The Threat to Life
by Talonclawfange
Summary: Everything in Hyrule seems normal until Link runs into some trouble in the Ethereal Forest. Soon everyone is aware of the return of Ganondorf, and the country must prepare for war! Does Link have the power to defeat an improved nemesis? pg13 blood
1. The Threat to Life 1,2,3

Talonclawfange says: sorry it took so long to put this up, my net was freaking out and it took a few days to fix. Anyways if you wanna know what's in store read the note, blah blah. It's still pg-13, but its a bit more violent than the others so its like a pg-13 or something, heheh. Thx for reading, plz review!

**The Threat to Life**  
  
By: Sonnet A.K.A. Talonclawfange  
  
( E-mail me at Talonofdayyahoo.com, but not if you're going to give me sick advertisements! I DONT WANT THEM!! I'M ONLY 16! Just feedback, please.)  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Hyrule, Link, Epona, Zelda, or anything else from Shigeru Miamoto and Nintendo's genius video game: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I wrote this story in dedication to them, since it's from the best video game of all time, created by them. The things I own are the Cyphas, Chain, Raykel, Calwots and all other things not in the original video game (so don't use em' without asking me and putting that I thought them up). I also wrote this because I like reading, drawing, and, recently, writing fantasy (all talents are given to me by God, so all credit goes to him as well). I think Link is really cool - Good job, Miyamoto!   
  
Note: This story takes place after my other stories, which are: The Problem of the Swamp Fairies, Duels and Dragons, Hunt for the Dragonlord, The War of the Kings, and The Song of the Siren's Shell, and Return of the Dark One parts 1 and 2; so you probably want to read them first or you'll be a little confused. This story I hope will be my best since it will it will be Link's last one in Hyrule. It'll be more action packed and more...fluffy...than the rest. Those of you who don't like lovey-dovey stuff I apologize. Those who do, your day has come. Those who don't like violence...well, you better not read this. It's PG-13, there's no sexual themes or foul language, but there's lots of violence and blood. Enjoy!  
  
_ I'm following Link down a corridor. It's one I've never seen before...the walls are green and torches line them. It's stange...in the corner of my eye the walls seem to be moving, but when I turn my head to look at them, they go still. I ask Link about it. He walks on, not saying anything. I ask again, but he seems to not hear me. Perhaps he is concentrating. We walk on, but the torches are burning out and it's becoming hard to see. The only sound in the corridor are my footsteps and Link's, but suddenly I think I hear something more. It sounds like laughing...but it's so far away I can't tell.   
  
Link stops and I stop with him. I lay a hand on his shoulder...but he doesn't move, almost like he can't feel it. But I feel him...what's going on? Link, what's happening? I ask. He says nothing and the torches go out completely. This time I definately hear laughing. Link's breathing quickens, and little beads of sweat roll down his neck. Link, we have to get out of here! I shout, but he still can't hear me. Link! I yell, and put a hand on his face. It's so cold! There's no warmth, no softness. It's like he's dead.   
  
Suddenly he dashes off. Link, wait! I yell and run after him. He's running so fastI can't catch up. I'm losing sight of him! I keep running, but eventually I tire and have to catch my breath. Link is nowhere to be seen. Nothing is to be seen in the enveloping blackness. I suddenly realize how cold it is in here. My breath mists on the air and I shiver. Link! I call, but get no reply. Suddenly and ear-piercing scream rips through the silence. That's Link's scream! Something hits me from behind and I scream too, because the pain is intense as the thing breaks my back. I can see nothing but light suddenly. Link! I yell, but it's useless...  
  
_**Section 1  
  
A New Friend and an Old Friend**  
  
"ZzzzzzZzzzz....."   
  
"Link! Hey, Link!" Navi buzzed around Link's face, trying to wake him up. "C'mon!!" The little fairy kicked Link's nose. He awoke instantly, sneezing and blowing her away.  
  
"Oh, did I fall asleep again? Dangit!" Link said, picking up Navi. She flew out of his hand and buzzed in his face again.  
  
"Don't you know that Cyphas will get here any minute? She's going out of her comfort zone and way to come visit you...and you fall asleep!"   
  
"Well, exuuuuse me! She happens to be four hours late! She said she'd be here just after sunrise! Can you blame me? I'm really bored...I've been sitting her so long my butt's beginning to hurt!" Link complained. He was sitting up against the wall of the courtyard, where Cyphas had said she'd meet him. Soldiers were training in about four hundred feet away, but Link had gotten tired of watching them long ago. Even though there were some clouds in the sky, it was an unusually hot, sleepy kind of day.  
  
"Still, she could show up very soon...ahhhh!" Navi was startled out of her wits when a large creature suddenly dropped down behind her and started screaming.  
  
"Link!! Just what in the bloody abyss do you think you're doing?! If I'm late you're supposed to train while wating for me! I did say we were training, didn't I?! Training is work, not sleeping!" It was Cyphas, of course.  
  
"I...uh...w-well, I was just waiting for you here because I didn't know when you'd be here..." He said, avoiding her angry eyes.  
  
"You sluggard! You're not even warmed up, are you? I could probably beat you in three seconds! Get up, already!" She growled, glaring at Navi as the fairy flew up to her face. "What a puny fairy," She said.  
  
"Hey! Stop ordering Link around! He's not your son or anything!" Navi shouted, while Link was getting to his feet.  
  
"What's this, Link? Your nightlight?" Cyphas questioned, on the verge of swatting Navi out of her face.  
  
"Listen! I happen to be Link's guardian fairy!" Navi yelled, insulted. Cyphas started laughing. The harsh, grating laugh echoed through the courtyard. Navi put up her dukes and prepared to attack Cyphas's upturned nose, but Link grabbed her first.   
  
"It's okay, Navi. She's always grouchy, so don't get offended. She'll calm down once she's used to being among lots of people again, I'm sure. She's probably very nervous, having lived in the swamp almost all her life."  
  
"You didn't tell me she was so rude! I should pull her little blue spikes out..." Link glared at Navi. "Okay, okay...but she'd better lose that attitude!" Cyphas had stopped laughing, and was listening to the conversation.  
  
"Or you'll what, you little dust bunny? Pull my eyebrows out? Buzz around my head? Hahahahah!" The zora-Hylian put her hands on her hips, throwing her head back and laughing again. Navi struggled furiously.  
  
"Navi, I think you better leave or you two are bound to get into a fight..." Link said, not opening his hand.  
  
"Me?! I'm your guardian! She should leave! She doesn't belong here-"   
  
"Shhhh! Navi, you'll offend her! I'll meet up with you after our training is done, okay? Please go." Navi glared at him fiercely, but when he oppened his hand she flew away quickly.  
  
"Man, what a little moron...just like you, Link." Cyphas said. She reminded him of the first time he had met her. She hadn't been this mean since back then.   
  
"Navi's not a moron. She's my friend. Did you come to train me or insult me?" Link asked, folding his arms. Cyphas glared at him with her yellowish-green eyes, which had catish, fat slits for irises. Her navy blue spiked hair and arm fins swayed slightly in the wind, and her whitish-teel skin was very bright in the sunlight. Link saw some teel spots on the back of her neck and arms that he hadn't noticed before. Her clothes were the same as always, black, leathery pants, shirt, and gloves with sturdy, brown boots. The halfbreed suddenly smiled.  
  
"I came to train you. If you want to recieve your first lesson, uncross your arms and drop them to your sides." She said, and Link did so. "Now then, I'm going to punch you. Clench your gut and take it as well as you can, but don't block or dodge."  
  
"What? My training is getting punched? I don't like the sound of..." Cyphas balled up her fist and slammed it into Link's gut. His eyes went wide as the breath was knocked out of him. He fell to his knees, holding his stomach and groaning. "Cyphas...are you trying to kill me?! What was that for?!" He gasped, trying to get some air back in him.  
  
"That was to show you how poorly you take a punch, you whiner." Cyphas said simply. "Now you punch me, and I won't block or dodge."   
  
"What? Why?" Link didn't think so badly of the idea, but still was unaccostomed to punching unprotected stomachs.  
  
"Just do it, or I'll punch you again! Don't use your gauntlets, but hit me as hard as you can. Hurry up!" She ordered.  
  
"Fine then!" Link clenched his fist and puched Cyphas with every muscle in his arm. She budged a few inches, but did not hold her stomach or show any sign of pain. Link felt as if he had punched a wall. "Ow! Sheesh, is your gut made of concrete?!" Link masaged his knuckles. "How can you just take a puch like that and not move?"  
  
"That's what I've come to teach you, duh. When I'm done with you, you'll be able to take a punch the same way." For some reason, Link didn't like the wide grin that spread over the swamp woman's face.

"I feel so left out..." Navi complained to Zelda as the princess watched Impa and Chain train with each other. They were on the other side of the courtyard from Link and Cyphas. "I haven't seen Link in almost a year, then when this rude lady shows up and I stick up for him, he tells me to leave!"  
  
"Well, Cyphas is very sensitive, you know. She doesn't show it, but she's probably scared to death of this place. When she was a kid, everyone hated her and she was abandoned because of what she is. She even snuck into the castle because she didn't want to be seen by Hylians if she could avoid it. If you say the wrong thing, you might hurt her feelings and then she'll fly off the hook." Zelda explained.  
  
"She's already off the hook! She doesn't need to be so mean to Link, and Link didn't need to send me away!" Navi growled, glaring past the training soldiers over at Cyphas.  
  
"Well, if you were still over there, you would probably be fighting with Cyphas, and Link would never get his special training. I'm sure he'll make it up to you later." Zelda said, looking over at them as well. She saw Cyphas punch Link twice. The first one didn't seem to hurt him, but the second made him double over. "What is she doing? She better not be hurting him!" Zelda said. "He's supposed to come with us to Kakariko after lunch, so if she injures him, she's in trouble..."  
  
"That's my point exactly! That woman is not safe. She needs to get out of here..."  
  
"Navi! Didn't I tell you not to say things like that? If Link wants her around, we'll have to endure her. Besides, she's really not so bad when she's calm. She saved Link's life more than once, you know." Navi folded her arms and took a seat on Zelda's shoulder. _Did she save Link's life to punch him in the gut? I don't like her..._ "Ow, ow, ow!" Link moaned, getting onto Epona. The horse neighed sympathetically.  
  
"Link, I don't know if you should continue your training with Cyphas..." Chain said, getting onto his horse. It was a dark brown, healthy-looking female named Rilla. Her mane and tail were long and black. Zelda, on the back of her silvery-white horse (her name was Jewel) nodded in agreement.  
  
"No...the training will be good for me when I get used to it. She's teaching me how to take a punch." It definately wasn't Link's favorite thing to learn. His stomach throbbed painfully. "Anyways, I feel well enough to help repair the potions shop." A few days ago, the old potions hag had made a mistake in her chemicals which later exploded. No one was hurt, but her lab as well as the potions shop were totaled.  
  
"But Link, did you see how big that bruise was when we bandaged your stomach? One more punch would have made you bleed all over! Are you sure you don't want me to heal it-"  
  
"No, Zelda. Your healing is unatural and if my body doesn't heal naturally, Cyphas says it won't get stronger. She also says that that's the reason I've taken so much damage to my body and yet it's still too soft to 'take a puch properly'. You always heal me." Link said, rubbing his gut and flinching. "That doesn't mean I don't want it, though...man, this doesn't feel good..."  
  
"You're staying here, then." Zelda said. Link glared at her.   
  
"No way! It doesn't hurt that much! In fact, I propose a horse race to Kakariko to see who can get second place behind me and Epona." Link said with a grin.  
  
"You're on! Jewel is no slow horse, and in your condition if you ride Epona too hard, you'll fall off!" Zelda declared, patting her horse's neck.   
  
"Are you kidding? Rilla is way faster than Jewel. Just look at this horse! She's built for speed. Link's horse is too muscular to run faster than this baby." Chain grinned.   
  
"Say, has anyone seen Navi?" Link asked out of the blue.  
  
"I saw her after training with Impa today," Chain said, "But she said she wasn't talking to you until you apologize." Link frowned. "About that horse race...We go on the count of three."  
  
"Three!" Zelda yelled, taking off on Jewel.  
  
"Hey, that's cheating!" Chain yelled, and Rilla sped after them. Link watched leisurely, letting them get a head start. After they were about one-third of the way to Kakariko, he patted Epona's shoulder.  
  
"Okay, Epona. Show them what real speed is!" Epona couldn't be happier to oblige. She dashed off so fast Link had to cling to her neck or he would have fallen off. Rilla, in front of Jewel (with a gloating Chain on her back) was over halfway to Kakariko when Epona sped by them.  
  
"What the heck?! Link, what do you feed that horse?!" Chain yelled, eating Epona's dust. Though Rilla was faster than Jewel, neither horse could match Epona. Link thought he was very lucky to have what was probably the fastest horse in Hyrule.   
  
"Sorry, guys!" Link called back to Zelda and Chain, "But you know you'll never beat Epona- whaaa!" While Link had been twisted in his saddle he hadn't noticed the Epona had reached Zora's river. Instead of going over the bridge like a normal horse, she leaped over the water. Link had been too busy bragging to hold on properly, and went flying off. He flew right into a tree - slamming up against the trunk - then landed like a lump on the grass. "Oweee..." Link muttered, sitting up. Chain rode Rilla up to Link's side.  
  
"Well, that's what you get for bragging, bro. You okay?" Chain asked, as Epona came to stand next to Rilla. The reddish horse was making odd snorting sounds that almost resembled laughter...  
  
"Yeah, yeah. Shut up, Epona." Link said, slowly getting to his feet. Epona neighed loudly and bobbed her head up and down. She was definately laughing. Zelda and Jewel finally showed up, and Zelda grinned down at Link.   
  
"Guess we won the race afterall, you big shot. Now then, shall we go into the village or sit here laughing at Link all day?" Grumbling, Link got onto the still-laughing Epona. And the three Hylians and horses entered the village. It was the same as always, people walking around to various shops and houses, conversing merrily. A few waved to the Hylians and bowed to Zelda as they passed. The jugglers were throwing balls at eachother and telling lame jokes in the center of a group of children. The carpenters were dashing around the village, pretending to work. As they passed Impa's house Link asked Zelda why Impa didn't come with them. Zelda told him Impa was training the King's five personal guards today. Birds whistled in the bright green branches of a tree as the Hylians passed by it.  
  
As they made their way toward the old potions shop, they saw that there was already someone there helping the owner rebuild it. It was Cosha, and Link smiled and waved at him as they approached. Cosha had just recently been declared sane. He was now acting like a completely normal person, and hadn't freaked out since the incident with the Siren's Shell and the griffons.  
  
"Hey, guys!" He greeted, grinning. "I heard you'd be coming here today, so I came too. I have nothing to do...the griffons don't really need to be watched, and I woke up too late to join the Hyrule Army training session."  
  
"You mean you're not in the Royal Guard anymore? Surely they'll let you rejoin now that you're capable..." Link said. Cosha shrugged.   
  
"I haven't reapplied. I guess I should do that soon...anyway, the potions shop owner, Marty, already bought the lumber and such to repair the shop with. Since the carpenters are useless, he says he'll pay us to help him do it." Link, Zelda and Chain dismounted and let their horses roam around the village to eat grass (everyone knew that Epona was Link's horse, and any horses with her must belong to Link's friends). They walked up to the place where the potions shop used to be, and saw that all the burnt debris had been cleared away. There was a huge pile of building wood with tools and buckets of red and white piant around it. Marty came out from behind the wood, smiling. He was the familiar skinny, brown-haired man who had run the shop for as long as Link could remember.  
  
"Welcome! I need as many workers as I can get. How much would you guys like for your services?" He asked.  
  
"Er...we don't need to be paid." Chain said. "Link's got more rupees than he'll ever use, and Zelda's the princess so obviously she doesn't need money. As for me, if I need some I'll just bug Link for it." Marty laughed.   
  
"Very well. But I must reward you somehow, so if you help me rebuild this place you can have free blue potions." He said. "Here is the wood. There are the tools. This is the blueprint. Shall we?" Zelda turned into Sheik so her dress woudn't get dirty, and the Hylians got to work. The head carpenter had helped Marty with the blueprint, so he knew exactly how the store was to be built, and there weren't any difficulties to speak of. It was to be exactly like the old one, but painted red and white. Link was working on the same side as Cosha, so the two talked for a long time while building. Cosha told Link about his family and life before getting brainwashed (as much as he could remember of it, anyway) in exchange for Link telling him about some of his adventures. Link didn't like talking about himself, but found that Cosha was an easy guy to talk to and soon forgot all about how the man used to be insane. He was now nothing more than a new friend.  
  
"So, what were you saying about Cyphas? She swam you two to the top?" Cosha asked.  
  
"Yeah. But when we about halfway to the top, she swam right through a pack of Cidids. She didn't know they were dangerous. I had to brush them all off, but there was one on my back..." Cosha listened interestedly as they worked, and before they knew it they were done with the frame of the house. Marty congratulated them and went to get some juice before they started the next part.  
  
"Hey Chain, do you mind if I switch places with Cosha for the next part of the house? I want to talk to Link." Sheik told Chain as they looked over the blueprint.   
  
"Yeah, go ahead. All you talk about is girly stuff and politics, anyway..." Chain muttered.  
  
"Hey, how rude!" Sheik growled indignantly. "All you talk about is your horse and how much better you can wrestle than Taig!" She play punched his shoulder.   
  
"What? I talk about other things, too! Like...eh, like when I talked about....well, I do!" Chain tickled her side and she let out a girlish shriek.   
  
"Do not!" Sheik declared, casting a tickle spell on Chain and laughing at him until he was rolling on the ground.   
  
"Are you torturing my brother, Zelda?" Link asked as he walked up next to her, a mischevious grin on his face that he always wore before tickling her to death. With a small scream, she took off running. "Come back here!" Link yelled, following her. Chain got up and ran after them.  
  
"Save some for me, Link!" He said. In a few moments Link caught Sheik and both he and his brother were tickling her. Cosha watched uncertainly, not sure wether to laugh at the hilarious sight or get back to work. In no time Sheik was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe, so Link wrestled Chain for who had the right to tickle her more. Link noticed Cosha standing there and ran over to him. Though Cosha was nearly ten years older than Link and Chain, Link thought he'd feel left out if he didn't wrestle with them.  
  
"C'mon, Cosha! Can you wrestle? Show us what you got!" Link reached up and grabbed Cosha's head; then proceeded to noogie it.  
  
"H-hey! Now you're gonna get it, Link!" Cosha tackled him and Zelda caught her breath as she watched Chain jump in and create a big free-for-all. As soon as the boys were in a big knot of various wrestling holds, Marty returned with the drinks.  
  
"Hey, stop killing eachother and come get your drinks!" He said loudly, and the panting wrestlers gladly did so. As soon as Sheik was sure she wasn't threatened with getting tickled anymore, she went to get her drink as well.   
  
After the drinks the Hylians got back to work. Chain was now working with Cosha, and the two got into a long discussion about wrestling. Sheik joined Link, and she started a conversation as she held a piece of wood in place for Link to nail it.  
  
"So Link, your birthday's coming up, isn't it?" She said casually.  
  
"The day you call my birthday is coming up," Link said dully. "I don't know when my real birthday is. You know that."  
  
"Well, we have to celebrate it sometime, don't we? I think the day we restored the castle after we sealed Ganon is a good day to celebrate it."  
  
"Hard to believe he's been sealed for a year now," Link said absentmindedly. "It seems like I fought him yesterday."  
  
"Really? Yeah, you don't easily forget things like that. So, how old are you, anyway? You really don't know?" Sheik asked curiously. She was going to turn seventeen soon.  
  
"Nope. Sahoriel the Dragon Queen said I was almost one when my mom left me with the Deku Tree. I know I celebrated eight forest festivals in the Lost woods before leaving it, and those were every year. I don't know how much time passd between then and the time I pulled the Master Sword from its pedastal. I completely lost track of time while I was liberating the temples, but it must have taken me at least a few months. There's a lot of guesswork involved..."  
  
"Well, let's say you're seventeen, then. Almost a year plus nine plus seven plus your adventuring time." She looked over at him.  
  
"A year plus nine plus....." He looked like he was concentrating hard. "Hey, what are you looking at?" He asked her.  
  
"Nothing," She said, giggling. "But Link, on a more serious note..." Sheik lowered her voice so that Link could barely hear it above the pounding of nails. "I had a prophetic dream last night. I'm sure of it. And, it wasn't a happy one." Link pounded quieter so he could hear hear.   
  
"Really? I had a nasty kind of dream as well...what happened?" Link inquired.  
  
"You and I were in a green corridor that was dark and scary. You ran off, and I couldn't catch you. I called but you couldn't hear." Link frowned. He already didn't like the sound of it. "I was hearing strange things, almost like a voice laughing. Then...I heard you scream and something hit my back real hard...and I saw a bunch of light." Link's frown deepened.  
  
"You're sure it was prophetic?" He asked. "Am I the first one you've told about it?"  
  
"Yes, I'm sure. Prophetic dreams always have a certain feel to them. You're the first." Sheik said. "I've got a real bad feeling about it, Link. Your scream was really loud..." Just then she heard a loud clank on the other side of the building's frame, and saw Chain and Cosha laughing. Cosha had accidentally bumped into a bucket of red paint and spilled some on himself. She smiled briefly and turned back to Link.  
  
"Hm...well, don't worry. I'll be careful. And, I won't leave your side so nothing will hurt you." Link said.  
  
"But Link, I'm more worried about you. It didn't feel like I was being attacked, it felt like I was feeling your pain! I wouldn't worry about me, if I was you...just don't go down any green corridors, okay?" Zelda said, grabbing another piece of wood because they were done with the first. Link sighed and nodded. The ominous dream had somehow sucked his will to socialize out, and they worked quietly until sunset.  
  
"Well, that was interesting," said Chain as the Hylians were getting their horses and preparing to leave. "Never helped build a house before. I think all that pounding of nails made me stronger!" he declared, feeling his biceps. Link laughed.  
  
"Well we're not done yet. We'll have to finish the rest tomorrow. I'm surprised at how much we got done, though. I thought it would take much longer to build as much as we did..." Link trailed off, his eyes on the sunset. Cosha hadn't brought a horse, so he got on Epona with Link. As the Hylians left the village of Kakariko, the sky was painted like a field of pink, yellow and orange flowers.  
  
"Oh, Link! Do you remember what my dad said at lunch?" Zelda asked, looking over at him. He shrugged. "Honestly, you men can't remember anything...," she grumbled with a frown. "He said the physician's anti-infection medicine was destroyed by bugs. He needs butterfly dust from those butterflies in the Ethereal Forest to make new medicine very soon. He wants someone to go out and catch at least five so he can extract the dust."  
  
"So, you want me to do it? Guess I'm Mr. Errand Boy..." Link sighed. "Well, okay. I don't want the soldiers to go into the forest, anyway. They need to concentrate on their training, not get lost in a forest. Still want to come with me, Cosha?"  
  
"Of course he's going with you! You're not going by yourself! Not after what we discussed..." Both Chain and Cosha were staring at Zelda. Why would she think it was dangerous for the Hero of Time to catch some butterflies? "Erm...because...well...you'll get lonely," she said. It was obviously a lame cover-up.  
  
"Zelda, what's the real reason you don't want Link to go alone? If it's something really dangerous, maybe we should all go with him..." Chain suggested.  
  
"Don't be rediculous! Guys, I can handle this. I can catch some butterflies; they aren't even deep into the dangerous part of the forest! You're being a worry wart, Zelda. I could probably camp in the forest without getting attacked by anything really dangerous," Link said, turning in his saddle to look at her.  
  
"You're right...I'm sorry, Link. Just go with Cosha." Link nodded, as did Cosha.  
  
"Besides...if it was something really dangerous, I'd rather go by myself. I mean, I'd rather be killed by myself than have company, heheh." Link laughed, but nobody thought it was funny. "Well...let's go, Epona!" The horse eagerly raced off, towards the castle so she could go around it and get to the Ethereal Forest. Zelda and Chain rode slower, staring at the now blood-red sunset and thinking about Link's lame 'joke'.  
  
"Here we are," Link said, gesturing to the giant trees surrounding the Hylians. "The Ethereal Forest." Cosha thought it truely did look ethereal in the dying light. The last rays of the setting sun caught the tops of the the huge old trees and the bottoms were shrouded in darkness. This made it look, from far away, like the tops were floating. At night animal sounds were quiet and rarely heard, unlike in the daytime. Twittering bird sounds were replaced with hooting ones. As the sun dissapeared the darkness was made complete, and the insects began their nightly serenade.  
  
"It's beautiful," Cosha said, "but where are the butterflies the King spoke of?" He glanced around the area. It wasn't hard to see, because the silver moonlight was cutting through the trees, illuminating the ground.  
  
"The butterflies sleep behind leaves at night, so they'll be easy to catch. If we find some large bushes, we'll undoubtedly find some butterflies." Link directed Epona down a line of trees to the left. The great trunks rose up on both sides, like mammoth, living walls. "I sure like this place," Link muttered, more to himself than to Cosha. "It's like a larger version of the Lost Woods, and I'm like a larger version of a Kokiri." And both are more dangerous, too. Link reminded himself. Suddenly he heard some rustling in a patch of ferns to the right. He glanced in that direction, not really worried. In this part of the forest, the most dangerous thing was probably a pair of small wolfoses. They rode Epona for a while, and soon came to an area filled with large bushes, many were larger than a horse. They were like a forest themselves, or a green labyrinth. Link pulled Epona to a stop.  
  
"Okay, if Epona goes in there she'll wake them all up, so come with me," Link said, dismounting. Cosha followed suit. The two of them crept into the large bushes, checking behind leaves for sleeping butterflies. Link gave Cosha a bottle to keep butterflies in if he found them. After a few minutes of searching, the light started dimming and Link looked to the sky. He frowned and grumbled irritably, "Just our luck. Clouds are covering the moon."  
  
"Let's split up, then." Cosha suggested, "We'll find butterflies more quickly that way, and speed is important if we want to find them before the clouds cover all the stars. If that happens, this place'll be black and it will take forever to find butterflies. I don't want to be here all night." Link nodded and the Hylians went two different ways. Link went to the left, scanning the bushes for signs of butterflies. He heard Epona snort suddenly, and looked back in her direction, but bushes were in his way of seeing her. _Impatient horse_, Link thought, walking on. Ah, there's one! Link saw a patch of bright yellow and green behind a leaf, and flipped it over to find a buttefly. He carefully put it in a jar and corked it. He abruptly froze as heard a noise in the bush to his right. He turned sharply toward the bush, his sword out of its sheath in less than a second. He stared into the leaves for a few moments, but there was nothing there.  
  
_Something doesn't feel right_...Link thought as an icy breeze brushed by his face. For some reason, he felt like the forest had suddenly become dangerous. _We'll only be here a few more minutes_, he told himself, but his subconscious still did not feel safe. Link glanced around as he walked on. Had he just heard a voice? Maybe Cosha was talking to himself. Link heard it again. Was that insects and the wind or laughing?_ Get out, now_! His instincts were screaming. This was familiar... _Zelda's dream!_ The thought hit him like lightening. _This forest is the green corridor, and the moon and stars were the torches. I'm hearing strange noises_...  
  
"Cosha! Hey Cosha, where are you? I think we should call it quits for tonight!" Link yelled, but got no reply. He could hear faint laughing. "Cosha, that's not funny! We can get butterflies later!" Suddenly the frosty breeze died. Insects stopped chirping. Owls stopped hooting. All was silent as a grave. "Cosha!"  
  
"He cannot hear you." Link gasped and stopped in his tracks, whirling around. The cold, quiet voice had come from behind him. The voice was familiar...and unpleasant memory tugged at the back of Link's mind.   
  
"Show yourself!" Link demanded, glaring into the empty bushes, sword held ready. He heard rustling behind him and to the right and dashed that way, hoping to catch the person playing hide-and-seek. He found a person...or rather, a corpse. Link's mouth dropped open and he stared in shock at Cosha's dead body. The throat was sliced open, and warm blood was slowly soaking the ground below Cosha's lifeless face. His once beautiful, green eyes were now open and staring into space. "Oh...gosh..." Link staggered backwards, a hand over his mouth. He had never seen the dead body of a friend before. "Y-you...you sick maniac! Who are you?!" Link shouted into the empty silence. "You're gonna get it for this!" Link heard soft laughing behind him again and ran that way, his heart pounding. He didn't even bother whistling for Epona. The murderer had no doubt taken care of her, too.  
  
"Where are you, coward?!" Link asked loudly after he had been running for a minute or so. He scanned the bushes in front of him, but predictably saw nothing. He was going to turn around again when a stange feeling covered his body. He found he could not move, he was somehow rooted to the spot. He couldn't even breathe. _What's happening to me?!_ Link wondered, panicked. He felt hot breath on his neck. "Who...are...you?" Link whispered, not able to manage anything louder. There was another quiet laugh from the tall man behind him. Link knew who he was, he knew it with every thing that formed his being. He was sweating freely, and tried to force himself to not be scared.  
  
"I am an old friend, Link." The deep voice said simply. Then something hit Link's back very hard. He screamed in agony as the thing, actually his attacker's boot, broke his back like it was no stronger then a pencil. He was hurled to the ground as all the nerves in his body flared with pain. It didn't last long, though. In a few seconds only his back was in pain, and the rest of him felt numb and cold. The numbness reached his head, and pitch black consumed him.  
  
**Section 2  
  
Cyphas's Contention  
**  
Chain avoided Zelda's eyes. "He didn't come home last night, Zelda. I'm really worried!" He said, in response to the question she had just asked him. They were walking down a hall of the castle, toward the King's throne room. It was the next day, early in the morning. The first thing Zelda had done after rising was find Chain and ask if Link had returned yet.   
  
"He's probably just camping in the forest to prove me wrong about thinking it dangerous..." Zelda muttered.  
  
"Yeah, he's got a big head like that...always playing pranks. He might be home any minute." Chain said hopefully.  
  
"No, Chian. I've known him longer than you, and whenever he does things like this he always gets back at the castle when the sun rises. It's been an hour and a half since it rose. I think he may be in trouble."  
  
"That's the reason we're going to see the King, right?" Chain questioned.  
  
"Yes. I'm going to ask him for soldiers to take with us on a search for Link. The Ethereal Forest is a big place, you know."  
  
"Yeah, we'll need a lot of help-"  
  
"With what, little Hylian?" a rough voice interrupted from behind Chain, making him jump.  
  
"Cyphas! Don't scare me like that!" He said, turning to her. She studied him with an audacious look on her face.   
  
"You know who I am, but who the heck are you? You look like Mr. Moron..."  
  
"No, I'm Mr. Mor- I mean _Link's_ brother! The name's Chain." He didn't bother extending a hand to shake, knowing that Cyphas probably wouldn't shake it if he did. "My brother's in trouble, so we can get to know eachother later," he said sarcastically, pushing past the half-breed.   
  
"Hold it! That idiot got himself into trouble again? Then you'll need me to help him get out of it, like usual. It's like a sport for me now, heheh. Yes, the new sport called get-Link's-stupid-butt-out-of-trouble!" Chain glared at her, but didn't protest when she followed him and Zelda to King Daphnes. They requested soldiers for a search party, and even though the King thought Link could take care of himself, he gave them permission to go pull five soldiers out of training to accompany them. Then, he looked strangely at Cyphas.  
  
"Who...or what, are you?" The King asked curiously, not exactly being polite. Zelda turned into Sheik, anticipating what happened next. Cyphas drew her well-concealed curved sword and leapt at the King, but Sheik intercepted the swampwoman and tackled her. She was able to hold her until Chain rushed over to help.   
  
"Calm down Cyphas, he didn't mean it! Ow, don't try to bite me!" Chain growled, almost losing control of Cyphas. The King's guards eyed her warily, spears raised. Chain took over holding Cyphas long enough for Sheik to cast a restraining spell on her.  
  
"Zelda, is this violent woman a friend of yours?" The King asked. He heard a snicker behind him, and turned to see Navi.  
  
"Put her in the dungeon! She's nothing but a troublemaker, King Hyrule, she was punching Link yesterday..."  
  
"Navi, that's quite enough! Cyphas doesn't need to be put in the dungeon, she needs to come with us!" Sheik stalked out of the throne room, a levitating Cyphas in tow. Chain and Navi followed, and Navi sat on Chain's shoulder.  
  
"Chain, where's Link? I'm still not talking to him, but I felt kinda sick last night and being near my partner or the forest makes me feel better. It was wierd...A bit past sunset I started aching for no reason at all..." Chain's eyebrows raised.  
  
"Is that so? We're going to look for him. He left a little past sunset and didn't come back." Navi's heart sank.  
  
"R-really? Maybe I shouldn't have left him..." Sheik, Chain, Navi, and a floating, growling Cyphas went to the courtyard to get five soldiers. Once there, Sheik truned back into Zelda and took her spell off Cyphas. After warning Cyphas to behave herself (much to the halfbreed's indignation) Zelda picked four strong-looking soldiers and one soldier that she had seen Link talking to before and figured he must know. The eight humans and the fairy went to the stables to get horses and departed for the Ethereal Forest. As they were galloping across Royal Field, the cold breeze from last night picked up again, to accompany the host of dark clouds overhead. It was strange weather for that time of year, and until yesterday afternoon, Hyrule had been getting very warm weather. Nobody payed this much mind, however, and after about half an hour of riding, the group came to the Ethereal Forest.   
  
What a huge place, Zelda thought, gazing around at the monolithic trees. Birds sang happily and the sunlight filtering through the branches made the ground look like a giant quilt of bright and dark grass. Yellow and green butterflies fluttered around above the group, but Zelda had no time to think about catching them.   
  
"This is a very large place so I'd suggest splitting up to look for Link and Cosha, but if they came to harm we had better stay together for more strength. Before we start, does anyone know anything about the butterflies Link was looking for?" Zelda asked, looking up at the insects.  
  
"Link told me they sleep behind leaves," Chain said quietly, "But what good will that information do us?"  
  
"Plenty." Zelda said in a matter-of-fact tone. "If they sleep behind leaves that means they must sleep in bushes, since these are pine trees. Since they sleep in bushes, Link and Cosha must have looked for them in bushes, so if we find some bushes, we may be close to wherever Link and Cosha are."  
  
"Sheesh, Ms. deducing-master. I never thought of that. Maybe I should get me one of those Triforces of Wisdom..." Chain said casually and a soldier glared at him.  
  
"Sir, do not disrespect the Princess. Do not suggest taking her triforce, either." He said sternly.   
  
"Hey, hey! I was just kidding around, buddy. I'm not going to steal it from her or anything!" Chain said to the soldier, who had long, red hair tied back and green eyes. His statement only got more glares from other soldiers. "Bunch of stiffs..."   
  
"Anyway, we should start looking for bushes now!" Zelda said loudly, breaking up the argument. "What's your name, anyway?" She asked the soldier.  
  
"Garret, Your Highness," He said, bowing in his saddle.  
  
"Garret, don't worry about what Chain says to me unless I ask you to worry about it. As he is Link's brother, we are friends and he was only joking. I appreciate your concern, but we have more important things to worry about." Zelda started Jewel forward, and the soldiers and Chain on their horses followed. Cyphas didn't know what to do, having never ridden a horse before. It had automatically followed the rest of the horses across the field, but now it was chomping grass.  
  
"Go!" She said, but her horse stayed put. "Move! C'mon, you stupid beast...move forward! Move! Forward!" Navi snickered from Chain's shoulder.   
  
"You're supposed to slap it or whip it's reins, not yell at it, duh!" Navi yelled. Cyphas glared at the fairy.   
  
"I knew that!" She slapped her horse's butt and it trotted forward to join the rest. Navi smiled smugly. Before Cyphas could yell at her, a soldier spoke.  
  
"Permission to ask something, Your Highness!" He said. It was the soldier Zelda had picked out because he knew Link, named Bodac. He was a tall, lanky man with short brown hair and brownish-amber eyes.  
  
"Go ahead." Zelda said.  
  
"Well, I was wondering, Your Highness...why didn't you take a tracker with you? We would find Link more quickly, wouldn't we?"  
  
"We have a tracker with us already," Cyphas said. "It's me." Bodac and the rest of the soldiers turned to look at her. Until now they had been ignoring her, not knowing what to think of her. They had thought it would be rude to ask what she was or talk to her.  
  
"So, why didn't we try to intercept Epona's tracks so you could track them?" Bodac asked her. She looked at him as if he was an idiot. After all, she still didn't like most Hylians...  
  
"We're doing that now, stupid!" Cyphas growled. "He came from Kakariko, around the castle to here. If we keep going this direction we'll find his horse's tracks soon. Or would you prefer us to go all the way back to Kakariko and start from there?" She asked snidely.  
  
"Eh, well, no...I-I mean..." Bodac stuttered, not knowing how to take the woman's attitude.  
  
"Don't worry about her, Mr. Soldier." Navi said, "She woke up on the wrong side of the swampy waterlilly!"  
  
"Shut up, you puny little-"  
  
"Cyphas, Navi, please! We should find Epona's tracks soon, so I'd like you to keep your eyes open and not argue!" Zelda said, in an almost commanding voice.  
  
"We don't even need the tracks or Cyphas! If we were anywhere near Link, I'd be feeling him right now. I'm all you need to find him!" Navi declared.  
  
"Yeah, well, we'll never get anywhere near him if I don't follow his tracks! Not to mention-"  
  
"Please! I'll send you both straight home and get a Hylian tracker if you can't control yourselves! If you weren't so busy arguing, you might notice those horseshoe tracks right there!" Cyphas and Navi both looked at the ground in front of Jewel and Zelda. Cyphas somehow managed to get her horse over to them for a closer look.  
  
"That's Link's cow, all right." Cyphas said. "He went this way..."  
  
"Don't you mean his horse?" Chain asked. Cyphas merely shrugged and urged her horse along the tracks. Zelda sighed and followed. Cyphas and Navi probably won't feel too good if we find out the boys are in trouble and every moment we waste arguing makes things worse...Cyphas and the group followed the tracks left, down a row of trees, and finally to a huge patch of bushes.   
  
"He's here!" Navi shouted. "I can feel Link is close...but...something's wrong with him. It feels like he's uncouscious or something. That means he could just be sleeping." Her tiny voice had a hopeful tone.  
  
"Well, let's hurry!" Cyphas said, slapping her horse so it would go faster. _Almost sounds like she's worried_, Zelda thought. _That would be unusual, for her. But I'm used to worrying about Link. Let's just hope I'm a worry wart like he said, and this cold feeling in the pit of my stomach doesn't mean anything...  
_  
"Oh my gosh!" A startled cry escaped Cyphas's lips as she came around a bush and saw Cosha. As Zelda, Chain and the soldiers rode up next to her, they were all silent for a long moment as they saw him. The soldiers wearing helmets removed them.   
  
"I never liked the guy, but dead..?" Bodac muttered quietly to Garret. He nodded solemly.  
  
"Raykel won't like this. He was planning to start training Cosha again soon. I'd hate to be the guy that tells him." After a few moments the soldiers put their helmets back on and a few got off their horses to get Cosha. Zelda looked sick. Chain simply stared at the body.  
  
"What...could have done this? Do y'think he was attacked by wolfoses or something?" Chain asked Zelda. She shook her head.  
  
"No..he was murdered. That slash was not made by teeth. And..." Her voice cracked as she went on. "Whatever got him...probably got..."  
  
"Link." Chain finished for her. "Navi, are you sure the feeling you're getting about Link doesn't mean he's dead?" Navi was staring into space and for a moment it seemed like she wouldn't answer.   
  
"I..I don't know. He's never died before, so how am I supposed to know what it feels like?" Tiny tears were rolling down her cheeks.  
  
"Enough of this! We don't know if Link's dead or not, so don't give up yet! Garret, you and that soldier there take Cosha back to Hyrule Castle. We'll keep looking for Link." Garret nodded and the group moved on, following some tracks that led between bushes. They were not easy to see on the hard-packed, partially grass-covered ground, but Cyphas had tracked things her whole life and it was not a challenge for her. In a matter of minutes they found what they were looking for.  
  
**Section 3  
  
Hopes and Fears  
**  
Zelda layed a hand on Link's forehead. Just like when they had found him, it was cold and dead feeling. Yet, the warrior was not dead. Link had a pulse and some dragons were on the way to use their advanced magic to heal his cracked spine. Zelda was waiting by his bed, and had not moved ever since they put him there. Blood from his back was slowly leaking onto the hospital sheets, but the doctor wouldn't bandage it for fear that he would do more damage to the spine. The blood was not coming from his spine, though. It was coming from the numerous cuts on his back that spelled out, 'I have returned.' Zelda already knew who had written it. Who else could it be?   
  
_ So, the King of Evil is back. How did he get out of the Sacred Realm? Perhaps Rauru's passing weakened the seal_. Raru was the Sage of Light, and because he had been very old, it was no surprise that he had passed away a few weeks ago._ I wonder what Ganondorf will do? He's probably at Gerudo's Fortess, thinking up a plan to destroy Hyrule...so of course, he'd want to get rid of Link first. But why didn't he kill him? Maybe he thinks he did_, Zelda thought. After all, Link had looked very dead when they had found him. _But then Ganon had to know he wasn't dead, because he didn't take his triforce. He took his ocarina , but what use has he got for that? None of this makes any sense..._ A Royal Guardsman appeared in the doorway of the infirmary.  
  
"Princess Zelda, the King has sent me to inform you-"  
  
"That dinner is ready." Zelda said, cutting him off. "I know already, But I want to stay here!"  
  
"Princess, it isn't very nice to yell at your guards," Impa said, coming from behind the startled man. "You worry them, you know. It's just their job. Chain's already at the table and we're waiting for you. Come along." Zelda sighed and got to her feet. Impa turned and left with the guard. Zelda cast one last glance down at Link's pale face, and after kissing him gently on the forehead, went to join Impa. 

"So, then. You are absolutely sure this was the work of the Evil King, Zelda?" Daphes asked his daughter, sitting on his left side. She had been playing with her food distractedly before, but at the mention of her name she sat up straight and turned to the King.  
  
"Yes, Father. Who else could it be? He wrote 'I have returned' on Link's back! Who else would write that, and in such a horrible way? I had a prophetic dream of this happening, too. It didn't actually have Ganondorf in it, but I witnessed Link's attack..."  
  
"I see. Well, there is only one thing to do. We must imediately inform all of the races of Hyrule and tell them to be ready for war. There is no doubt in my mind that Ganon has gotten himself some kind of new power or army and is planning to take over. Spies will be sent to the Gerudo's fortress at once, and as soon as the dragons get here we'll talk with them about creating some means of instant magic comunication. How is Link doing?"  
  
"Well, he's in bad shape, father. We'll just have to hope he stays alive until the dragons arrive. The docter says there was a great deal of damage to his nerves and the bones in his back." Zelda's voice was calm and busisiness-like in the presence of her father, though the subject was very emotional for her.  
  
"He's a strong boy. I think he'll make it. Ganon will pay dearly for this underhanded ambush. The Hyrule Army and Royal Guard have not been training for nothing!"  
  
"Besides, we have all the races on our side! What kind of army could the Master of Evil possibly have that could conquer all of Hyrule? Think about it!" Chain said confidently.  
  
"Chain, eight years ago I thought the same thing. I thought the Hyrule Army couldn't possibly be defeated by Ganondorf's gang of thieves if he was lying about being loyal to me. Needless to say, he was lying, and managed to conjure a force of monsters and magic more powerful that I ever thought he could. He is not a man to be underestimated. He surely knows the state of alliances in Hyrule, and I fear he will compensate by gathering a strong, new army of monsters as if from nowhere."  
  
"Well, if you want to be pessimistic..." Chain muttered under his breath. "But still, we have something the Master of Evil can't possibly conquer. The Hero of Time, right? Link'll beat him." The King looked at him incredulously.  
  
"Chain, are you aware that Link was in the forest, with a partner, completely healthy, equipped with the Master Sword when he was attacked? Yet Ganondorf managed to kill Cosha and nearly kill Link. I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but perhaps this siduation is more dangerous than you realize." Daphnes said serioulsy.  
  
"I guess you're right. I hope my bro will be okay...."  
  
"Speaking of Link," Zelda said thoughtfully, "I don't understand why Ganondorf didn't take his triforce. It confuses me greatly. The only thing Ganondorf took from Link is the Ocarina of Time. In the past this would have worried me, but these days all Link uses it for is teleportation and calling Epona. Ganon's already been in the Sacred Realm, so he can't want it for that. It is a mystery why he took it."  
  
"He always wanted it for it's power...maybe there is some other power we don't know about that Ganon wants it for." Impa spoke up, breaking her usual silence.  
  
"Yes, maybe. Or perhaps he's plotting to do something that Link would need the Ocarina of Time to stop. But then, why didn't he simply kill him and take the Triforce of Courage? These mysteries are only evidence that the cunning Gerudo has unexpected plans. Again, we cannot underestimate him. Is there anything else that must be brought to my attention?" Daphnes asked, looking around the elegant, large, but sparsely populated table. Chain, Impa, Zelda, and the King's personal guards all shook their heads. "Okay, then there's a question I must ask you, Zelda and Impa. Now that the Sage of Light, Raru, is dead, do either of you know of a way to seal Ganondorf? He can't be gotten rid of by the Master Sword and Hero of Time alone, right? We need the Sages." Impa and Zelda lapsed into quiet thought. After a moment, Impa's stern voice broke the silence.  
  
"Rauru told us before he died that all seven Sages are needed for that kind of thing. He said a new Sage of Light will make his or herself known after his death. He didn't say when it would happen, though. For all we know, it could happen a year from now." The King nodded slowly.  
  
"I suppose all we can do is wait, then." All was silent again, as the group finished their dinners. Zelda finished first and rose.   
  
"The dragons should get here any time, Father. I'm going to go wait for them." She began to leave.  
  
"I'm coming, too!" Chain said, quickly shoveling the rest of his food into his mouth. After he left Impa quickly followed, and King Hyrule was left to contemplate the military actions he would take against Gerudo's Fortress.

After Zelda had eaten an early breakfast the next morning (just after sunrise) she went to check on her guests. In the courtyard the dragons who had come the night before were still sleeping peacefully, the sunlight just beginning to peek over the castle walls through a gap in the clouds to glint off their smooth scales. Three dragons had come. Scal-zer, carrying a powerful healing potion from the Sahoriel, Queen of Dragons; Taig, come to visit his friends; and Faraws, who was simply too curious about humans after meeting Link to pass up the opportunity.  
  
After seeing that they were comfotable, Zelda went straight to the infirmary. When the dragons had come last night Link had been taken outside (the dragons couldn't go to him, because they were too big to fit in the hallways!) and Scal-zer had used the potion on him. He hadn't woken, and Scal-zer said the wound would take at least a couple of weeks to fully heal. Cyphas complained about the potion being of low quality because it couldn't heal Link instantly, and Faraws had calmly explained why. She had said that most healing magic works by making the body heal itelf much faster than normal while eliminating scars. Since a spine wasn't something the body could heal naturally, very special magic was needed to fix it, a kind only the powerful magic-users had (even the Great Fariys didn't have magic powerful enough, only Sahoriel). This magic didn't work as fast as the normal kind, unfortunately. But, Zelda found to her delight that it did work fast enough that Link was awake when she enterred the infirmary. He was sitting on his hospital bed, his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms holding them. His face was half-hidden in his arms.   
  
"Link! So good to see you awake!" Zelda said sincerely, a pretty smile spreading over her face as she walked up to Link's bed. Her smile was so bright it almost made Link smile. Almost. "What's...wrong, Link? Are you in pain?"  
  
"No. Not much, anyway." Link said dejectedly.  
  
"Well, something's obviously wrong. Are you sad about...you know...Epona and Cosha?" Zelda asked hesitantly, sitting next to him. Link sighed and buried his face in his arms.  
  
"You know...It's completely my fault he's dead." Link said, his voice muffled.  
  
"No, no it isn't, Link." Zelda said, putting an arm around his shoulders.  
  
"Yes it is. I sepparated with him, left him defenseless...that's a dangerous forest, I should never have left him, should never have taken him there in the first place! He trusted me, and I betrayed that trust."   
  
"Link, I'm sure that's not true." Zelda said.   
  
"Not to mention...my sweet, great, beautiful horse...she's dead too, most likely." Link said quietly. Zelda sighed.  
  
"Link, will you tell me what happened?" Miserably, Link did. When he was finished telling the grizzly story Zelda was quite for a while, then spoke.  
  
"Well, even if you were with Cosha, Link, it sounds to me like there's little you could have done if Ganondorf used a paralysis spell on you from behind. And as far as Cosha going with you, I wanted him to do that and he agreed. I'm as much at fault as anyone. But placing the blame won't do any good, Link. Now that Ganondorf is back there may be more deaths. If we blame ourselves and lose hope, we've lost half the battle already." Link was silent for a few moments.  
  
"Yeah, it's easy to tell me not to lose hope when you have no idea what it's like being me," he said bitterly. "Always having friends ignore your warnings and follow you into battle to be hurt or killed! I'm nothing but a trouble magnet. Ganondorf will kill anyone who associates with me. You'd better get away from me too, or he'll only want to kill you more!" Zelda frowned sadly.  
  
"Link, I actually have _quite_ a good idea of what it's like to have my warnings ignorred. And you're not a trouble magnet...well, maybe you are, but that doesn't mean your friends and brother don't want you around! Ganon will attack and attempt to conquer Hyrule whether you're here or not, you know. I'm sure he wants to kill you badly, but he wants to kill me, too. If we all split up with misguided hopes of protecting eachother, we'll lose the strength of unity! We've got to stay together and fight together, even if we get hurt. Just because you're the Hero of Time doesn't mean you're perfect and can defend everything, so don't blame yourself if someone dies. Just keep fighting and don't lose hope!" Zelda said emphatically, patting Link's shoulder with her free hand. Link half-laughed and looked over at her.   
  
"Man, you sure know how to give a corney speech to boost a guy's morale, Zelda. You'll make a great Queen someday." Zelda blushed and looked away.  
  
"You think so? But, I'll need a great King to go with me." She said. Predictably, Link didn't say anything in response to that. Instead he let go of his legs and stretched, moaning when he found it painful. He glared over his shoulder at his back and poked the bandage over it.   
  
"Ow!" He yelped, immediately regretting it.  
  
"Well it won't hurt so much if you don't touch it, silly!" Zelda said, giving him a dissapproving look. He just shrugged and put his legs over the side of the bed, slowly sliding to the floor. He winced and Zelda quickly got down to help him. "Oh yeah, you said you blacked out after he kicked you, right? Well, you should know that he took the Ocarina of Time and carved a message into your back, saying 'I have returned'." Link frowned and growled something nasty and inaudiable.  
  
"Man, my back hurts like heck...when will it be better?" He asked her as she supported him out of the infirmary, toward the kitchen. She figured Link must be hungry.   
  
"Scal-zer said it will take a couple of weeks," Zelda replied.   
  
"Scal-zer? When did you talk to him, and since when does he know about my back?"  
  
"Oh sorry, I forgot to tell you! Scal-zer came last night and used a potion from the Queen on your back. I couldn't heal it, and neither could a Great Fairy, so we sent Naltha and Kars to ask the dragons for help. I cast a speed spell on them so they were there in no time, and three dragons came back with them to Hyrule. Faraws and Taig came with Scal-zer. Speaking of them, they'll probably wake soon. Make sure you talk to Taig, he said he had something to tell you." Link nodded.   
  
"Where's Cyphas and Navi and Chain?" He asked.  
  
"Don't get impatient, now. They don't even know you're on your feet yet! And, you shouldn't be. And I shouldn't be helping you walk because you should still be in bed, but you wouldn't allow that anyway, would you?" Link grinned in response.  
  
"You know me too well. I like my rest but if it's already morning, I've been out for over a day, and that's plenty of sleep. I don't feel tired anyway, just sore. I don't want to stay stuck in a bed." Zelda nodded.  
  
"I figured as much." They walked slowly to the dining room next to the kitchen and Link had some breakfast. He hadn't realized how hungry he was, and ate so quickly Zelda cautioned him that he would get a stomach ache. While he was eating Chain and Navi, followed by a groucing Cyphas entered to room.   
  
"Maybe you don't like Hylians but you don't have to sneak around the place like a thief! Where do you sleep, anyway? You didn't even ask for a room!" Navi was yelling at the Hylian-zora.  
  
"I don't need to be pampered with one of your wimpy, fluffy sleeping devices, and - huh? Link, you're awake!" A stangely genuine smile briefly covered Cyphas's face, and she absentmindedly slapped his back.  
  
"Yow! Ake id eashy!" Link said, his mouth so full it was hard to understand him.  
  
"Ooops, silly me." Cyphas said in a tone that suggested it wasn't a big deal. She emphasized that tone to hide the fact that she really was sorry.  
  
"How ya feelin', bro? Hold on, don't tell me until you swallow that! I don't want you to die from choking or something." Chain said, sitting next to him. Cyphas sat a few seats away, and a kitchen hand came to ask them what they wanted for breakfast.  
  
"My back hurts and I feel a little funny, but other than that, I'm just fine." Link said when his mouth wasn't full anymore.  
  
"You probably feel funny because your nerves were damaged," Zelda muttered quietly.  
  
"Well, at least you're feeling well enough to get out of bed," Chain said.  
  
"So, your stomach doesn't hurt, Link?" Cyphas asked curiously.  
  
"No, why-"  
  
"They healed it, did they?! Those scaled morons! You'll never get tougher with our training if they keep this up..." Link sighed in exasperation. He had all but forgotten about his torturous training with Cyphas.  
  
"Who's a scaled moron?" Taig's voice rang out, and everyone turned to see the larger than horse-sized dragon squeeze himself into the room. He shot a glare at Cyphas and their eyes seemed to blaze into each other's for a moment.  
  
"C'mon Cyphas, in another two weeks I'll be fit as a fiddle and you can use me for a punching bag all you want. There's no need to insult people. Besides, I wouldn't be around at all if it weren't for the dragons, would I?" Link said, returning to his food. Cyphas turned her nose up and looked away from Taig, folding her arms huffily. Taig walked over to Link and sat on the ground next to him.   
  
"Wow, Link. You remind me of your horse when you two were staying in my cave before the War of the Kings. You know, when she stuffed her cheeks full of grass and looked like a chipmunk..." Link snorted but couldn't laugh properly with full cheeks. Once he was over it, he asked,  
  
"So Taig, how've you been?" Taig yawned leisurely, stretching his wings.  
  
"I'm great, of course. After all, I am the Great Taig! I'll be of age soon, you know. After that my deep voice will kick in, and I'll be a full-scale adult dragon! But hey, I've got something to tell you," Taig said in a quieter tone. Link turned towards him. "While me, Scal-zer, and Faraws were flying high over Royal Field last night, I saw something. You know how the Ethereal Forest is bordered by the Stalfos Swords on the north and northeast sides? Well on the far east side there's a cliff which rises into a field, and it's only partially covered with grass. Most of it is dirt and dead-looking bushes. Anyway, I looked over there and it was hard to tell from such an altitude, but...I think I saw a lot of dust rising beyond that field. You know, so much dust it seemed like an army was marching. I told Faraws and Scal-zer, but neither could see it and Scal-zer didn't believe me. He said that since his eyes are larger and older they can see better, but I'm sure I saw something..."  
  
"Could be dangerous, eh?" Link asked quietly.  
  
"Well, yeah! I wouldn't be telling you about it if I didn't think so. Anyway, if we leave right now, maybe we can get clear of the castle before Scal-zer and Faraws wake up, and they wont get in our way. I can take you high above Royal Field so you can see what I was talking about."   
  
"Well, Zelda won't approve...she thinks I should still be in bed. But I guess I can handle a little dragon ride! Let's go."  
  
"Hey, what are you two talking about?" Chain asked them, getting irritated that they were talking quiet enough that no one could hear them.   
  
"Eh, me'n Link are going for a walk. He needs some fresh air, you know?" Taig said, getting to his feet.  
  
"Well, hold on a sec and we'll join you," Chain said.  
  
"No, just me and Link! You hog him all the time, I never get to talk with him because I live on the other side of the kingdom!" Taig declared, pulling in his wings and squeezing through the door, past an astonished kitchen hand.   
  
"Well fine, have it your way." Chain said, and muttered a thank you to the kitchen hand as she gave him, Zelda, and Cyphas their breakfasts.  
  
"I suppose I'm not coming either?" Navi asked, hovering next to Link's head as he stood up.   
  
"Well if you stay here you'll just argue with Cyphas so maybe you should come...I'm sure Taig won't mind if you just sleep in my hat," Link said. Navi grinned and happily crawled into her favorite resting spot. "See you guys later," Link said, waving and following Taig.  
  
"That guy is way too active," Zelda complained. "He almost _died_ yesterday, and now he's walking around just fine!"  
  
"Limping around is more like it," Cyphas muttered.   
  
"Wonder where he's going with Taig, anyway?" Chain pondered, looking at Zelda. "I have a feeling this is no mere 'walk'." They grinned at eachother, silently agreeing to follow.

Hi there, thx for reading! srry no fluff in this part, that'll come later. And the very end of my next story is so corney you'll grow and extra pair of ears! sorry, lame pun. see ya next time, when they find out exactly what it was that Taig saw, and Link goes stargazing with Zelda, ooooooo .

-Talonclawfange


	2. The Threat to Life 4,5

hello, sorry I haven't updated for a while but that's because no one was reviewing! btw what I said about this story being Link's last one in Hyrule isn't true, I forgot to put my **next **story is the last one in Hyrule. . anyways, enjoy.

**Section 4  
  
Llance the Kaarinean  
**  
"**And just where are you going, Prince Taig**?" Taig froze in the middle of opening his wings, and turned his head haltingly to look at Scal-zer. The four-house-sized dragon had shiney green body scales and tough-looking yellow underbelly scales. His blue wings were strangely reflective and his large, ivory-colored horns curved like a ram's.  
  
"Ehehehe....um, nowhere..." Taig muttered nervously.  
  
"**And with a human on your back? Prince Taig, you are not a pack animal! I don't care if he's the Hero of Time, he can ride one of his griffons**!" Taig frowned.   
  
"Foiled, curses!" He said under his breath to Link. "I guess you'll have to ride a griffon, and Scal-zer will no doubt follow us..."  
  
"**I'm sorry Young Majesty, but I'm your guard for the time being and I cannot allow you to leave my sight. It's for your own safety, you know. Especially with Link's attacker still out there somewhere. Ganondorf was supposed to be a very powerful human**."  
  
"Yeah, I know." Taig said, seeing Faraws appear behind Scal-zer. She was a slim black dragon with tatooish red markings on her body scales and long, slightly curved silver horns. Almost shiny, large, grey scales covered her chest, and long, sharp spikes covered her spine. Her wings were a very dark shade of red and her eyes were purplish blue. She was about as big as two ponies. "Hey, Faraws. Now that Scal-zer is coming, you might as well come too..."   
  
"**These humans want to come as well**," Faraws pointing to Zelda and Chain behind her. "**Sorry, Taig**!" She said quickly as Taig glared at her.   
  
"Well now that we're having a little party, why don't I tell you where we're going! Were going to go look at the dust I saw rising yesterday, which _you_ don't believe I saw!" Taig said, looking at Scal-zer, who shrugged.  
  
"**I believe you, Taig! I couldn't see it either, but maybe your royal eyes are very sharp or something**." Faraws said. After Link, Chain and Zelda had gotten the griffons (Link and Chain rode on Kars, and Zelda rode on Naltha) Taig flew into the air north of the castle and they followed. Scal-zer and Faraws brought up the rear. Taig climbed very high, beating his golden wings quickly, his red scales shining in the dim light coming from the cloud-hidden sun. Taig climbed so high that when he leveled off, it seemed that the group was only a few feet below the gray clouds covering the sky. Link felt almost guilty riding Kars, because Epona had gotten jealous of him last time. Link greatly missed her already...She was always such a sweet, funny, nice, protective, amazing horse. I guess she must've been the best horse in Hyrule. Poor Epona...The thought of her made Link extremely sad, but he couldn't worry about that now...  
  
Taig glided to the right, and the flying creatures behind him, as if playing a sky version of follow the leader, persued. Link leaned over and saw the Royal Field and Ethereal forest far, far below. The air was thin and cold, but Taig and the rest glided on for about ten minutes before Taig spoke up.  
  
"Look, there it is! Don't tell me you can't see that, Scal-zer!" Taig yelled over the rushing of his relative wind.  
  
"**I see it this time, Prince Taig! It looks like you were right! But what is it**?"   
  
"I knew it! The Great Taig's eyes are sharper than a hawk's!" The red dragon said loudly, grinning in triump. Everyone ignorred him. Zelda used a spell to enhance her own sight, and gasped at what she saw at the base of the cloud of dust.   
  
"Link, that's an army down there! Not a normal one, either! They look like...dinosaur soldiers or something! They're tall and have these spikey crests on their heads..."  
  
"Sounds lika a drouge," said Naltha. "They're a creature that lives in wastelands. I heard about them from my mother, a very wise griffon. Drouges are supposed to be stupid, but apparently someone has trained those ones to march in an orderly formation. How strange!"  
  
"And there's somebody leading them...he looks like a human, Link! It's hard to tell, though. They're right on the border of the forest, about to enter it." Zelda informed him.  
  
"Let's get down there before they do," Link said. "I want to talk to that guy!"  
  
"Link, are you crazy? They look like a hostile army and your back's out of comission! What if that guy attacks you?"   
  
"I'll deal with it. Just cast a haste spell on us so we can get to them before they enter the forest. That way we won't have to go through the army to talk to the leader because the trees are too thick for griffons to land in."  
  
"Right, right...you can always cast Nayru's Love on yourself if he attacks you, I suppose...but I'm only casting the haste spell on the griffons and Taig or else it won't be a very fast one." Zelda chanted a few words and a magical aura surrounded her, which soon spread out into three beams that hit Kars, Naltha and Taig. They were immediately flying at three times their original speed.  
  
"You can catch up with us, Scal-zer and Faraws!" Taig called back at their shrinking forms. Scal-zer didn't look too happy, but didn't protest either. At least he could see the prince.   
  
The man and his force of drouges were just exiting the wasteland/field. They had found an area where the cliff sepparating them from the forest sloped rather than dropped and were marching down it. As the dragon, griffons and Hylians got closer, they could see the army was indeed just about to enter the forest. Taig swooped down in front of them, as did Naltha and Kars. The three of them landed before the leader. As Taig came down some of the drouges shifted nervously, and others yelped as if afraid. The leader, however was not impressed. As Link and Chain got off of Kars, Link saw that the leader was a man of avarage height, and his most noticable feature was his silvery-white hair. In the back he had a small, thin, long braid (like a braided rat tail) and the unbraided hair in back went down to his chin, but the rest was shorter. He seemed to be in his late twenties. A large portion of his nose-length bangs covered his face, but through it he saw that the man had one red eye and one brown eye. His sleeveless shirt was black, rimmed with gold and emroidered with silver designes, and was split down the middle but folded over itself Japanese style. He was wearing baggy white and black pants tucked into knee-high black boots covered with belts and metal studs. A very long, straight sword was belted to his waist and he folded his arms as Link approached him, glaring angrily. He had a scar that looked like someone had tried to cut his left eye, the red one.  
  
Link stopped a few feet in front of the man, looking into his face defiantly. Taig and the rest watched silently as the silver-haired man looked over Link, an irritated expression covering his features. Link noticed that his ears were not pointed...definately not Hylian. His two-colored eyes pierced into Link's once more.  
  
"What is this, a costumed welcoming comittee? I do not have time for you, boy. Get out of the way." His deep but young voice held a loud, dangerous tone that gave a sharp edge to the following brief silence.  
  
"I am Link, the Hero of Time and protector of Hyrule. If you and your army are hostile, I suggest you leave while you're ahead." Link's exression was very serious, something his friends only saw when he was regarding a very real threat.  
  
"So, you're an inhabitant of this country, are you? What is 'Hero of Time', some cute nickname your buddies give you? If you're going to threaten me, I suggest you bring more force than yourself and your welcoming comittee."   
  
"Why have you come here? Surely you don't mean to invade a country about which you know nothing. Especially with that sad-looking bunch." Link glanced at the drouges. They were about twelve feet tall, slightly chubby but very muscular, and covered with thick scales. They stood on their hind legs and were various shades of green, brown or black. On the drouges' heads were huge spikes slanted backwards and outwards, like big crests. They were all wearing blank, confused expressions and some were staring wide-eyed at Taig. Only the one closest behind the silver-haired man seemed to have noticed Link's existance. It's mouth was hanging open stupidly and Link saw that it had what looked like hundreds of long, sharp teeth. "Just who are you, anyway?" Link asked.  
  
"My name is Llance, a Kaarinean, and though my drouges may not be bright, you'd be surprised at the damage they can do when angered. And I have more than enough magic to make them all very angry. Now move or I'll kill you." Zelda, Chain, Taig and the griffons were still quiet and unmoving, but all were now glaring at Llance.   
  
"Don't be foolish. You have no idea of the military power this country is capable of. You and your drouges should go back to where you came from while you still can. I can't let you go any furthur." Link said firmly.  
  
_ Link, what are you doing?!_ Zelda wondered urgently. _He's picking a fight with a guy that has an entire army behind him! It's good that he's bold and all that, but he's going too far this time...  
_  
"You and what army, boy?!" The Kaarinean shouted, his arm pulling his sword out of its sheath as quick as lightening and pointing it at Link's neck. Link backed away, his hand on the Master Sword's hilt. But before he could draw it, Scal-zer and Faraws finally arrived. They had been flying low over the forest, so their sudden apprearance from over the huge trees was quite a shock to the drouges. The dragons caused instant chaos in Llance's army. The drouges were all terrified of mountain dragons, and roaring in horror they began shoving and climbing over each other to get away.   
  
"No, you stupid beasts!" Llance yelled, whirling around. "Get back here!" Unfortunately for Llance, the drouges were fast runners and were already charging like rhinos in the opposite direction. It was quite comical to see the huge beasts running like cowards, and Link noticed something he hadn't seen before: each drouge had a red, tribal-tattoo looking scar in its back. Llance began to weave a spell, and spread his arms out, scattering small shards of red magic. The spell reached the dozen or so closest drouges, and the red magic hit their scaled backs and dissappeared in little puffs of smoke. Then, the scar on the backs of every drouge that was hit began to glow and smoke, burning the drouge painfully. Their eyes turned red as they turned around and came running back, obviously very angry. One struck the ground in a temper, and Link was suprised as the strong fist made a crater and split the ground, sending cracks out in every direction. The ground shook as the drouges ran at Llance.  
  
"Curse you, Link...I'll have to capture them all again! At least these ones will be plenty enough to crush you and your welcoming comittee! Drouges, KILL THEM!" Llance pointed at Link and the rest (Scal-zer and Faraws had landed behind Link) and the drouges, controlled by his magic, attacked. The three dragons and two griffons took to the air and flew at the group of dinosaur soldiers, heading them off before they reached Link. Link drew his sword and Llance turned around to face him as Zelda and Chain rushed past to help with the drouges. "So it looks like you could back up all those brave words afterall. I bet your country is just full of dragons, isn't it?" Llance asked, straightening up and raising his sword. The silver hilt was encrusted with many jewels which glowed. Link supposed it must be enchanted.  
  
"More than enough to beat those dinosaurs, anyways." Link said. "So, I guess we fight?"  
  
"But of course. Let's see if you're as strong as you think you are!" Llance chanted something quickly, and two semitransparent, whitish bat-shaped wings sprung from his back. "You're very unlucky. I draw my power from the constellations and this month I command the magic of the mighty winged serpent, Ocard!" As Link slashed at Llance he lept into the air, hovering for a few seconds. Then he put away his sword and aimed a kick at Link's face, which Link blocked with his shield. The kick had been only a destraction, though. As Link lowered his shield he found that Llance was behind him, and the Kaarinean gripped him in a vicelike hold than pinned his arms to his sides. Before Link could get free Llance jumped into the air and flapped his strange wings, gaining altitude amazingly fast for having the weight of two people to carry. They were soaring over the cliffs in a few moments. Link had stopped struggling, knowing that at this point he would only fall if he got free. He looked down at the far-away ground, and his stomach felt like there was a score of butterflies in it, flapping madly against his rib cage.  
  
"I hope you like heights, 'Hero of Time', or else you'll have nothing but a few moments of terror before you splat against the ground!" With that, Llance opened his arms.   
  
"Whaaaaaahh!" Link screamed loudly as he plummeted. This was why he hated heights. He fell from them too often! But, it was a good thing that he had plenty of experience with falling. As he hit the ground he twisted and rolled, preventing any serious injuries but still getting a major bruise on his right arm and twisting his ankle, making it most irrtatingly useless. Link slowly stood up, putting all his weight over his right, undamaged leg. Llance landed in front of him, and drew his sword again.   
  
"Well, well. Not bad. I guess I should've taken you higher." Link raised his own sword and glared at the Kaarinean, then felt a stirring in his hat. Seconds later, Navi emerged.  
  
"Hey! What is going on? A fairy can't even take a decent nap...uh, who's he, Link?" Navi asked, looking at Llance.  
  
"He's the enemy! Find out his weakness, will you?" Link asked, mad at himself that he hadn't woken her earlier. Knowing Llance's weakness at this point would be very useful. Navi nodded and flew over to hover around Llance's head, shining yellow light on him and helping Link aim as he took out his bow.   
  
"Oh please!" Llance said irritably, and chanting a few words that were a simple spell for him, a wooden shield appeared between him and Link. Link grinned and called apon the magic given to him by the sun, the power to create fire arrows. A tingly fiery feeling spread through Link's blood, flowing into his hands and then his arrow. The tip burst into magical flames and Link fired it into Llance's shield. "What? You have magic? How about that." Llance discarded the burning shield and began forming a huge fireball in his hands.  
  
"Weakness, Navi!" Link yelled urgently, struggling to cast Nayru's Love before Llance was done with his ball. Just as Link was engulfed in protective blue magic, Llance let go of his fire ball. The huge thing smashed against Nayru's Love, not hurting Link but still throwing him back. As Link got up, holding his bruised arm, he noticed he was getting closer to the edge of the cliffs...  
  
"I'm trying, Link! This isn't just a simlpe monster, you know!" Llance swatted briefly at her, but wasn't irritated enough to attack her. He was powering up his sword, and sharp-looking orange magic was forming on its tip. Just as Nayru's Love was about to start fading, Llance thrust his sword, which was covered in shield-breaking magic, right through it. It cracked the spell and blue shards flew everywhere as Link was once again shoved back by the shockwave. He was thown to the ground and slid a few feet, and when he stopped the top half of his body was almost over the edge of the cliffs, which dropped off down to sharp rocks scores of feet below. Climbing to hit feet once again, Link turned to find Llance's sword pointed at his chest.  
  
"Give up, or I swear I'll see you die apon those rocks..."  
  
"Listen! Link, I see his weakness! He can't conjure shield spells strong enough to protect him from very powerful magic strikes of pure energy!" Navi yelled excitedly. Link thanked the fairy.  
  
"Shut up, you annoying little gnat," Llance growled, swatting at her again. Link slashed at Llance's sword with his own, knocking it away from his chest. He then pressed the Master Sword against Llance's chest, making him back up and give Link room to get away from the cliffs.  
  
"You give up or you'll be locked up in a cell under Hyrule Castle!" Link threatened. Llance gave a short laugh, but his eyes looked slightly worried. Suddenly both warriors' attention were brought to the field behind them by a great roar. They turned to see Scal-zer drive his sharp tail through the chest of the last standing drouge.  
  
"Dang... you'll pay for this, Link!" Llance declared, using the opportunity to flap his wings and jump back, far out ot the range of Link's sword. "Take this!" Llance pointed his arm at Link and a large, magical, seethroughish orange snake with horns, wings and small claws shot out of his hand. Though it looked like it would have been a powerful spell if it had hit Link, the Hylian's reflexes were too quick. He hit the striking snake across the face with his sword, making it vanish in a billowing orange puff of smoke. Link then used his most recently learned sword technique.  
  
He stabbed with the Master Sword in Llance's direction and a red blast of searing energy bolted out of its tip, and was almost to Llance before he could errect his inadequate shield spell. The blast obliterated the small spell, ripping into Llance like a storm. Though Llance's shield spell had been weak, it hadn't been completely useless and Link's blast didn't hit him in full force. Still, the magic was enough to send him flying though the air twenty feet and land roughly on the ground, smoke rising from his burnt clothes and chest.  
  
"C-curses...I underestimated you, kid. You haven't seen the last of me..." With that, Llance casted a teleportation spell and was gone.   
  
"Whew, that was close." Link said, fighting the temptation to drop to his knees. He was very tired and sore, but he had to make sure his freinds were all right. Fortunately he was spared the trouble of limping over to them, because they came over to him. Link saw, to his relief, that no one had been seriously injured.  
  
"Are you alright, Link?" Zelda asked, reaching him first. She was putting pressure on a small cut on her shoulder and she looked tired, but other than that she was fine.  
  
"Yeah. I managed to hit that guy with my sword blast because he couldn't see what I was doing through some smoke. The smoke was caused by a spell he made, so that was pretty lucky. How is everyone? Sorry to just leave you like that..."  
  
"Don't be rediculous! You can't fight a powerful magic user and his monsters at the same time. Besides, we're all fine. Those beasts were amazingly powerful but pretty dumb. We were able to sepparate them, thank goodness, and take them out one by one. Scal-zer was hit by on and got a huge bruise on his shoulder and Kars's tail got bitten," Link looked over at the Scal-zer and saw that it was true. His entire left shoulder was a nasty black and blue and a little squashed looking. Kars's tail was bleeding profusely and he was whining over it. "...but other than that, no one was hurt seriously. We were pretty lucky ourselves. Good thing those monsters were dead scared of dragons." Link nodded, then Zelda frowned at him. "But you are a trouble maker! Picking a fight with Llance like that! If his army wasn't afraid of dragons we'd all be dead by now! Especially you, recovering from a broken back!" Link looked embarassed.  
  
"Sorry about that, but I had to say something to him. I couldn't look weak in front of him or he'd be more confident in his take over. Besides, I guessed they were afraid of dragons by their reaction to Taig."  
  
"It still wasn't very smart," Chain said, walking over to Link. "And you've gone and hurt your foot, too. You'll be lucky indeed if Cyphas allows Zelda to heal that."  
  
"Cyphas doesn't have to know about it," Link said. "I've sprained my ankle so many times in my life I doubt it'll get much stronger, anyway."  
  
"**Well then, I suggest we get back to the castle before Mr. Hero picks a fight with any more armies**," Faraws said. "**Us dragons still have to report to our Queen and King of Dragons and create a communication spell, you know**."   
  
"Awww, do I have to go with you guys? My mom doesn't really need me to report to her...can't I stay a few days?" Taig pleaded. Scal-zer sighed.  
  
"**Well, I don't see why not. Just don't get yourself into trouble, Prince Taig. If you do, it's my head**."

"Yeah! Thanks, Scal-zer!" Taig yelled. The large dragon simply smiled.   
  
**Section 5  
  
Love and War**  
  
After Zelda and Faraws had healed everyone's wounds, the Hylians got back on the griffons and followed the dragons back to Hyrule castle. Zelda quickly went to go and report to her father, and Scal-zer and Faraws, after saying good-bye, flew back to Dracoulis. Link, Taig, and Chain were left with nothing to do. This was not a good thing.  
  
"Hey, I've got an idea," Chain said. He was sitting beside Link and Taig in the courtyard. "Let's go prank the soldiers' barracks!"  
  
"Yeah!" Taig said enthusiastically.  
  
"No," Link said flatly.  
  
"Aw, why not? They're probably all tense from the news of Ganon's return. We could lighten the mood a bit." Chain said.  
  
"They have enough on their minds and they need their sleep for training. Why would you want to prank them anyways? They protect Hyrule." Link pointed out. Navi shifted slightly under his hat, sleeping. Link wondered how it was possible for someone to sleep so much! When she wasn't helping him or picking fights, she was always sleeping in his hat.  
  
"Tch, are you kidding? You protect Hyrule. All they do is train all day!"  
  
"Chain! That's completely not true! Don't you remember the time that they...uh..."  
  
"Accused you of trying to kill the King? Put you in jail? Bit my head off for joking with Zelda? Yeah, I remember that!"  
  
"But Chain, you're forgetting something. One of them recently died, and his funeral is tonight!"   
  
"Oh yeah," Chain muttered. "I guess we can always prank them later. I want to get back at that Garret guy."  
  
"All he did was gently remprimand you, you whiner." Cyphas's hard voice rang out behind Chain, making him jump again.  
  
"Will you_ stop doing that_!" Chain growled. Cyphas simply laughed.  
  
"Well it's about time we continue our training, Link." Link turned and looked at her questioningly.  
  
"What are you, stupid? He's got an aching back! If he trains with you not only will you beat him to uselessness, but Zelda will have both your heads!" Taig said loudly.  
  
"Well, moron, if you'd listen for a minute I'll explain. Right now Link's back hurts and it'll take a couple of weeks for it to heal. What's the point of waiting around for that and then giving him more wounds that will take time to heal so he can take a punch better? Would it not be more efficient to get it over with now so that in two weeks he'll feel completely better and be in shape to fight evil?"  
  
"More efficient? What if you _kill_ him, you _idiot_?" Chain demanded. Cyphas rolled her eyes.  
  
"I can control my strength and I know, as a professional Link-saver, how much his body can take. I won't kill him."  
  
"She's got a point, Chain." Link said.  
  
"You're on _her_ side? Your _both_ idiots!" Chain hollered. Taig elbowed him and told him to calm down.  
  
"I can take a little more pain if it means I'll be ready to fight sooner. This might be a good idea." Link said. Chain glared at him and looked away.  
  
"Well if Cyphas doesn't kill you, Zelda will. You know she'll have a fit." He said, folding his arms. Link sighed.  
  
"Are you gonna tattle on us, then?" He asked. Chain grimaced.  
  
"You make it sound as if it would be a bad thing, trying to protect your health! Besides, I don't think you should keep secrets from Zelda. Friends don't do that." The words stung, but Link thought it would be far worse if evil confronted him and he had a bruised gut or achy back. He wanted to be free of disabilitating injuries as soon as possible.  
  
"Don't you think it would be for the best, Chain? I've hurt worse than this for longer than this in my life. I can handle more pain for a week or two. It's better to suffer bad pain for a short time than less bad pain for much longer! Don't you know that I really want to get Ganondorf out of Hyrule? How will I be ready to fight him if I'm injured for four weeks? Please don't tell Zelda. She's my best buddy but she wouldn't understand this." Link said. It was Chain's turn to sigh.  
  
"I guess you're right...we definately need you in good health as soon as possible with the Master of Evil around...I won't tell her. But if she finds out anyway, don't expect me to defend you!" Chain said, scowling.  
  
"Thanks, Chain. I appreciate it." Link said. "Why do you call Ganon the 'Master of Evil', anyways?" He asked curiously. Chain had called Ganon that every time he mentioned him.  
  
"Well...I guess it's because when I was being raised by the Gerudo they expected me to call him that. It was either that or 'Your Majesty'."  
  
"You were raised by Gerudos?! You must be great with a bow and sword!" Cyphas said.  
  
"You bet he is. Forgive me for bringing this up Chain, but while he was the Dragonlord he shot me from behind a cloud thousands of feet up, and his sword skill was excellent." Link said.  
  
"Yeah, they trained me hard night and day. They refused to train me on a horse, though. They said that all boys except their King were inferior and therefore should not be trained in all of the Gerudo arts. Ah, those were the horrible old days." He said, pretending to get nostalgic.  
  
"Well, Cosha's funeral is in an hour. We should get ready." Link said.  
  
"Ready?" Taig questioned.  
  
"Yeah, me and Chain have to wear our Royal Guard armor to it. They usually let us get away with not wearing it because I'm the Hero of Time and he's my brother, but there's no waivers on this. All Royal Guards attending must wear their armor." Cyphas muttered something under her breath.  
  
"Well, I don't like gatherings so I'll see you tomorrow, Link." The Hylian-zora said, running to the courtyard wall. She jumped amazingly high and grabbed the top, vaulting over it.  
  
"I always knew she was a freak," Chain said. Link glared at him. "I know, I know. She's just a poor, innocent, misunderstood halfbreed to rips anyone's head off when they disagree with her and gets a kick out of using you for a punching bag." Link chose not to respond to that, and the two Hylians with Taig left the courtyard just as the sun was beginning to sink under its walls. They went to Link's room so he and Chain could change, and went stright to the funeral after dinner. It was held at Castletown, in a graveyard behind the Temple of Time. A long obituary was read and the crowd, mostly composed of soldiers with a few citizen here or there (Daphnes and Zelda were there too), listened in silence. There was a very solemn air about the ceremony, but also one of anger. Even though no one had said anything about it, Link could feel that many soldiers were outraged by Ganondorf taking their former comrad in such an underhanded way. Link looked around for Raykel and saw him on the very edge of the crowd. His eyes were closed as he listened to the eulogy. Though Link could tell he was making a mighty effort not to show emotion, it seemed that the emotion might come leaking out of his dark eyes at any moment.   
  
Link stared back at Cosha's coffin, draped with the Hyrulian flag, feeling sadness rise within himself as well. He was able to keep it under control, though. When the obituary, lowering of the coffin and prayer were finished, Raykel left in a hurry. Link knew he probably wanted to be by himself but had to say something. He left Taig and Chain (hoping they wouldn't be bored and prank someone), and went back to the castle because that was the way he had seen Raykel go. He discovered the Captain of the Royal Guard sitting up against a dark, remote corner of the castle by himself. As Link approached, Raykel said nothing, staring intently at the moon above him. Link sat next to him. Long minutes of silence passed before Link said anything.  
  
"Raykel, listen. It was...partly my fault that Cosha's gone." Link said quietly, bowing his head. "I'm really very sorry, Raykel. I'll understand if you never speak to me again. I know he was very special to you...he was a great guy."  
  
"You'll understand? Then I can peacefully despise you for the rest of your existance." Link looked over at him in surprise. He hadn't known what to expect, but it wasn't that. Raykel grinned. "Oh, I'm only kidding, Link!" Link smiled, feeling very relieved and very gullible. "I don't hold you responsible. I'm sure if there was anything you couldv'e done to prevent Cosha's death, you would have. Besides...I'm sure he's in a happier place.." Raykel said. Though he was smiling, a tear slid down his cheek. "He was a great apprentice before the Dragonlord polluted him. Such an enthusiastic, bright boy. I have many fond memories of him and I'll miss him...but if anyone's to blame, it's Ganondorf. If you don't get revenge on him, I will."  
  
"Don't worry, he'll pay. Do you want to talk about Cosha?" Link asked, thinking that might help Raykel feel better.  
  
"No...I just want to think and enjoy the night." Raykel said, wiping his eye. "Don't tell anyone about that..."  
  
"Of course not. You take care of yourself, alright?" Link said, momentarily placing a hand on Raykel's shoulder. He then left to go find Zelda. _Ganondorf won't get away with this...if we don't stop him, ther'll be hundreds of funerals like Cosha's and many sad people like Raykel. As soon as I'm well enough, Ganon won't know what hit him_...Link thought darkly as he stalked down the hall leading to Zelda's room.  
  
"Link, there you are! Is everything alright?" Zelda asked, walking up in front of him. Until she had spoken, Link hadn't even noticed her.  
  
"Oh, hi. What?"   
  
"You looked really mad about something."  
  
"Three guesses what," Link muttered.  
  
"Yeah, I don't blame you. Anyway, dad thinks that Llance had something to do with Ganondorf, even if he didn't mention him. At least, it's a very good possibility, don't you think?" Zelda asked. Link nodded.  
  
"Speaking of that guy, his ranting about his powers from the stars reminded me that I haven't gone star gazing in a while and some of my favorite constellations are visible this time of year. There's a few hours before bed time...want to come with me?"   
  
"Sure, sounds like fun! Shouldn't we invite Taig and Chain, too?" She asked.  
  
"Well, I don't want to wake up the stable hands to saddle two horses. They go to bed early, you know..." Zelda raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
"Uh-huh. Is that the best excuse you can come up with?" Link looked nervous.  
  
"Eh, well...y'know, they need their rest..."  
  
"Link, we're perfectly capable of saddling horses ourselves, and so is Chain."  
  
"Oh, he is? Let's go get him, then..."  
  
"You know perfectly well that he is. Why don't you just say you want to be alone with me?" Zelda asked. Link was now very flustered.  
  
"No, no! It's not that way! I-I mean...I like you and everything, but not like _that_...You're like...a sister to me." He finished lamely. Zelda smirked.  
  
"Well, whatever. Are we going or not?" She said, starting off toward the hall that led to the stables. Link was now seriously considering finding Chain and Taig as he trudged after.

"There's Faore, there's the triforce...and there's Ocard. But I can never find the Zora Queen..." Link said, searching the sky. He was laying on his back next to Zelda on a small hill in Royal Field. Jewel was grazing nearby (they had both ridden her since Link was still horseless).  
  
"She's right there," Zelda said, pointing to a cluster of stars that looked vaguely like a zora in a flowing dress.  
  
"Yeah, that's right. Where's the red tiger?" Zelda pointed again, at a different cluster. "Oh yeah. You know the stars good, don't you?" Link asked.  
  
"Yes, I studied astronomy. I had to, being a princess. I know all 84 constellations." Link whistled.  
  
"That's sure a lot," he said, shifting to get more comfortable.  
  
"How's your back, Link?"  
  
"It's feeling much better than this morning. It's only a dull ache now."  
  
"Good. You were always a fast healer..." Link shrugged in response and fell silent, staring at the sky. From this area of Royal Field almost no light from any town was present to lessen the brightness of the stars. Millions of the glittering eyes were strewn across the deep sky as if spilt there by a careless person carrying a jewel box full of diamonds. Link was glad that the clouds from earlier were mostly cleared up, but there were more on the horizon, threatening to cover the sky once more. The crescent moon was half hidden behind one of those distant clouds, illuminating part of it, making it seem like it glowed. Even though that time of year usually had warm nights, it was starting to get cold and breezy, and would soon be uncomfortably so.  
  
Zelda looked over at Link, whos eyes were fixed on the triforce constellation. His eyes reflected the stars, making them sparkly just the same as the sky. Zelda had always dreamed of being in an ice cave which glittered like the stars with it's shining blueness, and maybe it would look like a world of sapphires. Link's eyes reminded her of that. He looked incredibly attractive with the starlight illuminating his face...  
  
I_ wonder why he wants to be alone with me...does he really feel like I'm his sister?_ To any other girl (except Malon) that would have been a wonderful compliment, but it dissappointed Zelda. _I suppose it's foolish to love that lone wolf, he'll never have time for a girl. Always saving Hyrule by himself...Vamparlia, the Dragonlord, Feelock, Kadien, Dark Link...he fought them all more or less on his own, not to mention Ganondorf and all the temple bosses. How lonely it must be, struggling to protect what you believe in all by yourself, against a foe which seems undefeatable...He probably likes that loneliness, and that's why he'll never-  
  
_ "Something on your mind, Zelda?" Link asked. "Or are you staring at me for fun?" Zelda blushed.  
  
"I'm...just cold, that's all." He raised an eyebrow at her.   
  
"Uh-huh. Is that the best excuse you can come up with?" He asked, grinning. She glared at him.  
  
"Oh, just leave me alone. You stare into space sometimes too, don't you? Everyone does." She said. Link looked back at the sky and she grimaced. _Well, this obviously isn't a date. He's not even talking, just staring at the stars. He'll never show any loving emotions_...She shivered against a cold breeze and stood up, rubbing her arms. "Wierd weather, this cold."  
  
"Yeah. Maybe Ganon's doing it," Link said, standing up next to her. "Want to go back?" Zelda shook her head.  
  
"I can take a little cold...I'm not done looking at the sky yet," Zelda said. _Yeah, because you were staring into space,_ Link thought. _Wierd girl...looks kinda pretty in the starlight, though..._He looked back at the stars, though they seemed much more lifeless in the sky than they did reflected in the princess's eyes. Zelda shivered again.  
  
"You really are cold, aren't you?" Link asked. He was used to high and low temparatures and the cold didn't bother him, but he'd forgotten that Zelda had never been in the Fire Temple or the ice cave. He then did something which very much suprised Zelda. He put his arm around her. "That better?"  
  
"Eh...yeah." Zelda said, her cheecks turing bright red as she looked down. _Could this be the beginning of something? No, I shouldn't fool myself,_ She thought._ He would certainly put his arm around a sister. This doesn't mean anything...  
_  
"Well it looks like your done looking at the stars, seeing as how you're now staring at the ground," Link said.  
  
"Y-yes, I'm done now. Shall we?" Zelda called Jewel, and the Hylians rode to the castle in an uncomfotable yet infinately comfortable silence.

The next few days passed very slowly. The soldiers were now enduring a more intensive training program to prepare for war. King Hyrule had sent several spies to the Garudo's Fortress, but none had returned. Zelda, Chain and Taig had nothig to do but train and hope the spies would return. Darunia and the Zora King, as well as the leaders from all other races allied with Hyrule, had sent back notes that they were preparing for war and would come to the castle as soon as they were ready. The idea of magical communication with the dragons was forgotten since they were also coming. Since those letters had come, nothing from the outside world had been sent to the castle. All who dwelt in it found themselves suppressed by this disturbing calm in the storm. First there had been a murder and the very next day a hostile army led by a strange magic-user had approached Hyrule. Now, after four days of no news and no attacks, everyone was becomming uncomfortable with anticipation and alertness. Zelda had told Link to get lots of sleep and refused to let him get trained by Impa with her and the rest, so he secretly trained with Cyphas in his room while they were busy. Navi was also with Zelda, and Link was glad of that because she would be maddest of all if she found out.  
  
"Ugh!" Link groaned, holding his stomach and slumping over. "Good grief, that was a strong one..." He said, panting.  
  
"Well, you took six hard punches in a row without falling over! I must say you're getting better. Anyways, no training tomorrow so your gut can heal. And next time make sure you don't have so much air in your lungs so it will hurt less. I'll see you later, I guess." Cyphas said.  
  
"Thanks, Cyphas." Link said. At first he had thought this training was nothing short of torture, but now that he was actually getting stronger he didn't mind it so much. As Cyphas left Link climbed onto his bed, rubbing his back._ Sure hope this heals soon_, Link thought. His back was no longer making him unable to move freely, but he knew if it was hit or strained in battle the results would not be pretty. He was just as tense as everyone else, and despite his eagerness to teach Ganon a lesson, he was reluctant to fight the King of Gerudos in bad condition.   
  
Link's room was only about five rooms away from the main entry and drawbridge of Hyrule Castle, and he heard some shouting coming from it. Though his gut ached horribly, Link got out of bed and walked down the hall to the left. He exited the hall and found that the drawbridge was being lowered and several anxious-looking Royal Guards were waiting impatiently for it to lower all the way.   
  
"What's wrong, guys?" Link asked one of them. The one closest to him (it was a relatively young soldier that Link recognized from the Warrior Contest. Link couldn't remember his name but thought it started with 'E') responded quickly.  
  
"The spies have returned! I don't know if they're alive, though..." He said, turning his attention back to the almost lowered drawbridge. Link saw that the alarming news was true. Three horses began to walk across the bridge as it settled on the other side of the moat. The spies appeared to be unconscious and were tied to the backs of their horses. All three were bruised and bloody. A few concerned citizens and soldiers from Castle Town were walking beside the horses, ensuring they would reach the castle and much-needed healing.  
  
"Dang stupid Gerudos!" One Royal Guard growled, rushing over to a horse. The citizens left as the rest of the guards and Link helped the tired horses to the courtyard and untied their passengers. The three men were taken to the infirmary immediately and the King was notified. He showed up about two minutes later, winded and angry.   
  
"Ganondorf will pay for this," He said, surveying his wounded servants. One had a note nailed to his arm. A physician carefully removed the nail and the King read the note as the doctors rushed to treat their patients. "You are a fool to send spies, Daphnes Hyrule," The King read aloud. Link was standing next to him. "You know very well that my servants are experienced thieves and masters at stealth. Nothing can be hidden from them. If you send another spy, he will come back in pieces. This is only the beginning of the horrors you will experience! Prepare for war, pathetic Hyrule! Signed the King of Evil, Ganondorf." The King's face was red. Link didn't know what to say, so he instead offered his services to the doctors. The King stormed out of the infirmary and as soon as Link was done helping the doctors (who declared that all three spies would live but retain large scars), he went to go tell his friends the grim news. He learned later that the first thing the King did after leaving the infirmary was order Castle Town to be filled with soldiers on patrol, and the entire castle was to have twice as many soldiers on watch (even though it had already been doubled) just in case.   
  
"You should have come to me immediately, Link." Zelda said after Link was done explaining. "I can go heal those spies."  
  
"Well, it looks like the doctors have it under control now. With a mix of Arlia and potions the spies are in good enough condition that they don't need healing. All they need now is rest." Zelda nodded.   
  
"And so do you, Link. How's your back?" She asked. Link sighed. This was only the thousanth time she's asked in the last four days.  
  
"It's fine. Not completely healed yet but it hardly bothers me anymore-"  
  
"Link, what's that?" Zelda sked quickly, pointing at his stomach. Link looked down and to his dismay he saw a bit of blood soaking though his tunic.  
  
"Eh, it's nothing," Link said, trying to cover it. "I just spilled some juice..."  
  
"Nothing, indeed! That's blood! What have you been doing, Link?!" Link looked sheepish.  
  
"Um...nothing that's not in the best interest of Hyrule....just...getting in shape, you know..."  
  
"What are you talking about? You mean training? Have you been _training with Cyphas_? Letting her punch you instead of resting?" Link looked at the ground. "What's the _matter_ with you?! Do you want to _die_, Link? Is that it? You're not a super human, you can't take so many injuries and not permanently hurt yourself! Don't be stupid!" Link was getting a little annoyed at being yelled at. Who was Zelda to tell him what to do, anyway? Navi fluttered angrilly next to Zelda. She looked like she wanted to reprimand Link too, but apparently Zelda had covered whatever she was going to say.  
  
"Zelda, you're not my caretaker!" Link said, looking at her. "I know what I can take better than you do, so don't tell me my limitations!" Zelda looked shocked at this.  
  
"I know I'm not your mom, Link! You haven't got one to tell you when you've gone too far, so I'm telling you!" Chain, Taig, Navi and Impa watched in uncomfortable silence. They had never seen an altercation between Zelda and Link before.  
  
"Don't even mention my mother, Zelda!" Link growled, surprised at how much the subject stirred his emotions. "Who are you to say I've gone too far? Are you going to order me to stop doing my best to make myself battle-ready sooner,_ Princess_?" Zelda glared at him.  
  
"Are you so thick that you don't even know what's good for you? Get a clue! Look at the blood seeping though your clothes!" Link turned away.  
  
"A little pain is worth the trouble, Zelda. I'm sorry you can't understand that." With that, Link stomped away.   
  
"I just can't stand to see you hurt yourself, Link..." Zelda said quietly to his back as he turned a corner.

-Hi there, thx for reading! :) hope you liked the fluffy star read next time when Ganondorf makes his first assault, riding his new and improved horse! by the way if you review PLZ sigh in or leave me with your author name so I can e-mail you or check out your fics. -Talonclawfange


	3. The Threat to Life 6,7

**Section 6  
  
Invasion!  
**  
"For the last time, I'm not apologizing." Link growled. "She's always telling me what to do. I know she's a princess, but she's starting to remind me of her Father! He and she always think about the life of a single person before the overall welfare of the country. That's admirable at times, but usually foolish! Besides, it was rude of her to bring up our mother!" Link said. Chain and Link were sitting on their respective beds, across from eachother. Taig was siting on the floor next to Link's. Link had been in his room almost the whole day after the fight, supposedly 'resting' like Zelda wanted.   
  
"But still...you hurt her feelings, Link. Yelling at her like that..." Chain said quietly.  
  
"Yeah, I've never seen you lose your temper like that, buddy. Are you okay?" Taig asked.   
  
"It doesn't matter. Zelda needs to learn that I can take care of myself. Now I've had enough of your guys' lecturing. I understand that you want to help me but this subject has been discussed as thoughoughly as possible. We're going around in circles. Good night!" Link said loudly, jumping under his blanket and not saying anything furthur. Chain and Taig sighed, glancing at eachother. They left the room.  
  
"We can talk to him tomorrow. He's obviously exhausted, poor guy. He acting really wierd." Taig said, shaking his head. "Probably stressed."  
  
"Yeah...besides, if we give it a day maybe Zelda will apologize to him and save us the trouble of trying to convince him to do it. Is Navi still with her?" Chain asked.  
  
"As far as I know." Taig said. He and Chain said good-night to eachother and Chain went back into his and Link's room. Chain turned off the light and got into bed.  
  
"Good night, Link." Chain said. He got no reply, Link was already asleep.

The next morning Link and Chain awoke suddenly to a loud booming. Link sat up and, looking out his window at the overcast sky, saw that the sun hadn't risen yet but was close to doing so. His back hurt a little bit but he didn't think of that as he listened for a few seconds. Hearing another boom, the Hylian pulled on his clothes and weapons as quickly as humanly possible.   
  
"Link, what's going on?" Chain asked, rubbing his eyes. "It's not time for training yet..."  
  
"I don't know what that sound is, but I don't like it. You'd bett-" A loud bang drowned out the rest of Link's sentence as the door to his room was knocked down. A fat but buff, armored, tall, ugly, stinky moblin stood in the doorway, grinning down at Link. It's sharp yellow, boarish teeth were at a strange angle as it bore it's canines and snorted. It only had one more second to live before Link ran it through. Orange-reddish blood spilled into the hallway and Link leapt over the monster's falling body, only to meet another moblin down the hall, to the left. Chain pulled on his tunic and ran after Link, joining him as he killed another moblin.  
  
"We're being invaded!" Chain yelled, staring down the hall at two more moblins.  
  
"It must have been a surprise attack," Link shouted over the squealing of one of the running moblins as he shot it with an arrow. With Link's sword and Chain's spells, the two killed six moblins before getting to the end of the hall. They burst out the hallway door into a chaotic melee of moblins and soldiers. The drawbridge was open because the chains holding it closed had been broken, and the area around the chains was charred. Link knew something must have blown them up, like a bomb or magic. Dozens of moblins and some other monsters were trying to break in, and the soldiers weren't having much luck holding them off. Without a moment's hesitation, Link slammed into the moblin closest to him, and while it was off-balance Chain killed it with a cutting spell.   
  
Zelda and Impa suddenly showed up, and with their added strength, as well as the stength of arriving Royal Guards and Hyrule Army soldiers, they began to beat the flood of monsters out of the castle. Moblins, lizalfoses, dinalfoses, wolfoses, stalfoses, and skulltullas were all forced back, and were soon being pushed off of the drawbridge. While they were being held off, Zelda fixed the drawbridge chains with her magic. Unfortunately, a new wave of monsters was running out of Castle Town, towards Hyrule Castle.  
  
"Retreat into the castle!" The King's voice was heard on the battlement overlooking the fight. "Get inside and close the drawbridge against the new wave! We'll take them out with arrows!" He shouted. He then yelled in surprise as a shiftbat flew over his head and dropped a few lizalfoses next to him and his five guards. About a dozen keese arrived as well, diving at the bow and sword-wielding soldiers arriving on the walls. Link risked a glance back through the entrance to the castle, and could see that more monsters were being flown over the castle walls by shiftbats and dropped into the courtyard. He also saw that for some reason half the population of Castle Town seemed to be running around in the courtyard. Taig and some soldiers were fighting the dropped monsters already, but it was obvious that they would soon be outnumbered.  
  
"They need us in there," Chain yelled over the shouting of battle, sending a newly learned Din's Fire ball at a skulltulla creeping towards him.  
  
"You, Impa and Zelda go and help in there. I'll fight off these monsters until the gate is closed and join you!" Link shouted back. Chain nodded. He managed to round up Zelda and Impa and head for the courtyard as the soldiers cleared the last of the monsters off the drawgridge. "Pull up the drawbridge!" Link yelled up to the soldiers on the walls, next to the controls. Half of them were fighting off a bunch of wolfoses, but after defeating the beasts they ran over to the device that closed the gate (it looked like the same kind of thing you pull anchors up with on a ship). The gate began to close, and most of the soldiers ran into the castle. Link and another soldier kept off some moblins as the drawbridge began to rise under their feet.   
  
Unfortunatley one moblin was determined that it was not going to let the gate close without killing a Hylian. It launched itself at the soldier fighting next to Link as the bridge continued to close. The moblin pulled the struggling man to the edge of the wood as it rose to a nearly vertical angle, so they were on the top of it, the moblin on the outside and the soldier on the inside. Link clung to the edge of the gate and launched himself at the two at the last moment. He cut at the moblin with his sword and hit its face. Roaring in pain, the monster let go of the soldier. The Hylian fell into the castle as the drawbridge closed and the moblin fell into the moat. Unluckily for Link, he fell into the moat as well.  
  
"Guraupgrawww!" The moblin growled as it emerged, spitting water. Link quickly jumped out of the moat, and found himself completely surrounded by monsters.  
  
"Throw a rope down to Link, quickly! Or grab a large piece of wood and hold it between a gap in the stone so he can hookshot it!" The King ordered one of his personal guards (called Wein) as he slashed at a monster with his kingly golden sword. The guard quickly saluted and ran off the find a rope. He ran down the battlement, past archers who were shooting arrows at the monsters below though the gaps. There were some battles on the way, but he got around them without injury. He reached a stone storage room which held supplies and began frantically rummaging for a rope.   
  
The archers on the walls were trying their best to shoot down the monsters around Link, but were constantly being attacked from behind by various dropped monsters and keese. Not to mention some stalfoses knew how to use a bow and were shooting back at them from below. It was difficult enough to keep from being chopped to pieces themselves. Link, however, was in a much worse siduation. After Link had executed the spin attack twice, a stalfos had managed to hit him from the side, slashing his shoulder. Link held the wound, backed up and turned to some approaching monsters to his right, but there were too many. He simply could not fight off thirty monsters at once. He was forced back into the moat by the stalfos. Link backed up in the waist-high water until his back was to the stone castle wall next to the drawbridge. Quite a few monsters followed him into the moat, but none attacked but the stalfos that had knocked him in in the first place. Link slashed at it visciously and knocked its sword away, but it simply snatched a spear from a moblin to the left of it (which was suprised and stared at the stalfos a few moments with its eyes bulging) and pinned Link to the wall with it, holding it against his neck. The beast was suprisingly strong despite the fact that it had no muscles. Link tried to bring his sword up to kill it, but the armored skeleton kicked his wrist so hard the sword went flying.  
  
"Now you're a dead boy!" The stalfos hissed in its raspy voice, pushing up on the spear handle so that it lifted Link off the ground. He gasped and struggled but could not free himself. His vision blurred as the stalfos pressed harder. "Get him!" The beast ordered a lizalfos to its right. The lizalfos walked forward, raising its long dagger. Suddenly a shining yellow ball zoomed out of nowhere and hit the lizard's scaley nose.   
  
"Leave Link alone, you bully!" Navi shouted, buzzing around in the monster's eyes to confuse it. Other monsters closed in to finish Link, but a teal and black blur leapt down apon them. With several quick flashes of metal, half a dozen monsters collapsed into the water, grasping at sword-made holes through their chests. The water around was becomming increasingly orangish-red with monster blood as Cyphas cut the head off of the stalfos pinning Link. Link fell into the water dizzily and Cyphas caught him by the back of his tunic, pulling his head above the water with one hand while the other was slaying monsters with the swiftness of lightening.  
  
"Time to play get-Link's-stupid-butt-out-of-trouble again!" Cyphas yelled triumphantly as Link coughed and regained his balance. He stood up and grabbed his sword from under the water next to him, killing a wolfos pouncing at him. Before more monsters could overwhelm the pair, the ends of two ropes were thrown down to them. Link and Cyphas wasted no time in sheathing their swords and jumping on the ropes to pull themselves up. However, before they could reach the top monsters began to shoot arrows at them and follow them up the ropes (Navi buzzed in the faces of these). An arrowhead struck the back of Cyphas's right arm and she let go of her rope, giving a short yell. Link caught her wrist and pulled her arm over his shoulder. The Zora-Hylian had enough strength to hold onto Link as he climbed up the rest of the rope and some soldiers pulled him over the wall. Thanks to Navi, the monsters climbing behind them did not reach the top before the ropes were cut, and the beasts plummeted back into the moat.  
  
Link found to his relief that all the monsters on this part of the wall had been exterminated. He looked briefly around at the other parts and saw that most of them had been killed and few more were on the way. Was the invasion over? Were the rest of the monsters just going to sit around and get killed, with no reenforcements?  
  
"Link, you're all right! When I heard you and Cyphas were out there by yourselves..." Link heard Zelda's voice and saw her behind him. Navi, having finished distracting the monsters, flew to Link and climbed under his hat.  
  
"Yeah, but Cyphas's been wounded. Will you heal her?" Link asked.  
  
"Don't be stupid!" Cyphas growled, a hand on the arrow sticking out of her arm. "I don't need...your stupid magic!"  
  
"Cyphas, this is no time to build your strength by letting it heal on it's own. If you haven't noticed, we're under attack! You need to be in your top condition, you can't fight like that!" Zelda pointed out. Cyphas made a sour face and sighed.   
  
"I suppose that's true...but the next time I'm wounded and our lives aren't at stake, I refuse to be fixed up with your unatural, nonsensical wizard crap!" Zelda laughed and nodded, then while she was healing Cyphas Link stood up and looked over the castle battlements again. All the monsters were dead! He stepped over to the wall and looked down into the courtyard. All of the monsters there had been exterminated as well, and it seemed that no one had been killed or permanently injured. Link was about to inform Zelda of the good news when he heard something that instantly crushed his newly found good mood. It was the flapping of leathery wings accompanied by a laugh so sadistic and loud that it froze the blood of everyone in the castle.  
  
"What is THAT?" Cyphas screamed. Link turned to see a ball of dark electricity zooming at the princess and halfbreed. There was time for him to do nothing but jump in front of it. He wasn't about to let Zelda or his friend get hit...  
  
"Eaaaagh!" Link screamed as the ball exploded on his back, hurling him into the women below him. The electricity sizzled and cracked as it spread over Link's body briefly, then dissapeared. Navi screamed and came out from Link's hat, backing off. The dark waves radiating from Link's attacker's body were too much for her to bear.  
  
"AHAHAHAHAAAA! I knew you would do that - same fool of a boy!" Ganondorf's deep, mocking voice rang out. "Did you miss me, Link?! I've come back to reclaim what's mine - Hyrule!"   
  
"Run!" Link told Cyphas and Zelda as he staggered to his feet.   
  
"No way! I'm not going to let you fight that cheap-shot Gerudo all by yourself! Whoa!" Cyphas and Zelda jumped out of the way as Ganondorf sent another piece of magic flying at them. This one promptly turned into a shade monster apon striking the stone. The shade leapt at the women and they were forced to flee from the quick thing as it continually attacked them. Link growled in irritation and turned to face Ganondorf. Behind the Gerudo Link saw three large, black, and very evil-looking dragons circling in the cloudly sky above the courtyard. Ganon himself was not riding one. He was instead riding on his old black, armored horse; the one Link hadn't seen in years and supposed was dead. Instead, the creature seemed greatly improved. It was almost as big as a Clydesdale and had somehow grown a pair of black wings. It's hooves were red-hot and surrounded by flickers of fire. Flames came from its nostrils whenever it exhaled. Both the horse and rider stared down at Link with murderous intentions. Ganondorf looked the same as he always had, a dark-skinned giant of a man in Gerudo clothing with red hair that matched his horse's. He had cut his hair again and had a little bit of hair on his chin, and Link noted that his head looked vaguely like a fireball.  
  
"I don't know how you survived a broken back, boy, but before long you'll be wishing you hadn't! I should have done you in like I did that Royal Guard kid, but then again, that's too quick a death for you. By the way, do you like the improvements I made to Murderisk? He's a nightmare now!"  
  
"I don't care what he is! You won't catch me off-guard again, Ganondork!" Link felt a stab of rage as he watched Ganon sitting happily on his horse. He'd pay for killing Epona and Cosha. Ganondorf cast a condescending glare at Link.  
  
"You dare mock me in front of my face? Prepare to die, Hero of Time!"   
  
"Why should I prepare now? Last time you left me alive! You're not fooling me, Ganon. You knew I wasn't dead. You didn't take my triforce. Why?"  
  
"What are you talking about, cretin? Don't you think I'd kill you if I knew you weren't dead?! I highly doubt you have any understanding of how to steal a triforce. But, it matters little now that I've found you. You'll be cold and dead under my nightmare's hooves soon enough!" Ganon urged Murderisk at Link and the horse reared up, neighing wildly. When he came back down, his fiery hooves colliding with the stone beneath them made the wall shake a bit. The nightmare charged at Link, who drew his sword but did not move, undaunted by the approaching monster. Just as the giant horse was about to reach Link, Link rolled out of the way, to the side. He struck out with the Master Sword at the nightmare's leg, and the horse snorted in pain and stumbled as it galloped past. Link tried to ignore a biting pain in his back induced by rolling as Ganondorf brought his horse around. As the horse charged again it surprised Link by jumping into the air and gliding over his head as Ganon shot a blast of dark power at him. Link slashed the magic, sending it back at Murderisk, who dodged it with a quick flap of his huge black wings. The horse turned around mid air and hovered, his flaming hooves pawing angrilly at the air. The nightmare sucked in a long breath and breathed flames at Link. Link was a bit surprised, having never heard of nightmares or their ability to breathe fire like a dragon, but had the prescence of mind to yank the mirror shield off his back and bring it up. The flames were defleced back at the horse, and whinying in rage, it flew higher to avoid its own flames.   
  
"Quick aren't you? But don't get confident yet, boy!" Ganon yelled, making Murderisk charge again, this time swooping directly at Link.   
  
"Too late, you flame-headed Gerudo!" Link challenged with a boldness he didn't quite feel. With a growl of rage, Ganon drew his curved, wickedly sharp Gerudo sword. Link barely leapt out from under Murderisk's red hooves in time to avoid being branded, and Ganon slashed at the Hylian as he passed. Link couldn't dodge the strike, so he blocked it with the Master Sword. "Whoa!" Link said as the powerful strike forced him backwards and nearly caused him to fall over the battlement wall. "Sheesh, that was close," Link said, staring down at the horde of monsters still swarming outside the castle. A few fired arrows at him, so he got away from the wall quickly. He turned to face Ganondorf, only to find him flying away. He and his nightmare were heading straight for Zelda and Cyphas.   
  
"Come back here, you coward!" Link yelled, sprinting after him along the battlements. They were now relatively empty because most of the soldiers had gone to fight the black dragons hovering above the courtyard. Zelda and Cyphas seemed to have been able to defeat the shade and Zelda was firing light magic at the black dragons from atop the wall. Cyphas was gone, Link supposed she must be fighting the dragons in her own way. Link knew he couldn't reach the princess before Murderisk, so he pulled out his bow and fired an arrow at the horse's wing. The arrow hit, and with an unhorse-ish hiss, the beast began to descend into the courtyard. It couldn't maintain the weight of its own heavy body plus Ganon's with an arrow in its wing. Link ran all the way to Zelda.   
  
"Sorry, Link. I was going to help you with Ganon, but that dragon was about to fry about twenty soldiers with its dark fire! I had to stop it." The princess explained.  
  
"No problem," Link said, panting. His bruised stomach hurt horribly from sprinting and he put a hand over it.  
  
"Link, let me heal that." Zelda said, pausing in her throwing of light magic at the dragons.  
  
"There's no time, Zelda! Those soldiers!" Link yelled, seeing a black dragon breathe flames at a group of about five Hyrule Army men. Zelda, even though she was about seventy feet away from the men, managed to send a sheet of magic down to shield them from the fire. Without giving Zelda a chance to argue, Link vaulted over the wall and landed on the grass by the fight. His back did not like the stress from falling forty feet and rolling to reduce the impact, but Link ignored it and ran at the dragon. The two-house-sized beast's body scales were as black as midnight, and its wings were a deep, dark crimson. It's sharp, large stomach scales were the color and texture of bones, and the dragon was quite skinny. Spikes bristled from its spine and the side of its arms and legs. The creature was wicked fast as it turned this way and that, snapping and slashing at soldiers. It's eyes looked like glowing blood and on it's left horn was lodged an old human skull, pierced through the eye. A symbol that looked like a ghoul and a skull mixed was on its forehead.  
  
As if sensing the prescence of a skilled and pure fighter, the dragon turned its burning eyes to Link and hissed, scalding saliva dripping from its mouth. Link powered up the Master Sword, channeling warm light magic into it. As the dragon snapped at Link he jumped to the side and chopped at its neck. The Master Sword tore right through the dragon's flesh and bone, severing its head. Link looked behind him and to the left. He saw Ganondorf using a strange form of dark magic to heal Murderisk's wing. Ganon had noticed that Link killed one of his dragons, yet he was smiling as he leapt back into his nightmare's saddle. Link heard the dead body of the dragon behind him move, and turned to see it writhing. Using his platinum gauntlets, Link lifted the corpse and threw it at Ganondorf. Murderisk leapt into the air and flew out of the way of the body, then, to Link's horror, flew straight at Zelda once again.   
  
"Long time no see, _Princess Zelda_!" Ganon shouted, drawing his sword once again. "Will you never learn, you sad man?" Zelda asked, forming a spell in her hands.  
  
"Injure her, Murderisk!" Ganon ordered. Before Link could think, his bow was in his hands again. He fired another arrow at Murderisk's wing, but some kind of shield spell knocked it away. Zelda sent quick, sharp magic flying at the horse, but the spell deflected that as well. Zelda screamed in terror as Ganondorf reached her.  
  
"No!!" Link shouted at Murderisk's huge hooves collided with Zelda's chest. The horse reared up in the air and prepared to stomp the fallen princess, and Link could do nothing from this distance but fire another arrow. This time it was aimed for Ganondorf, and this time it was shining with holy magic. He let it fly right into the evil King's shoulder.  
  
"Ahhhhhh!" Ganon yelled, clutching at the arrow as it plunged into the back of his shoulder. The light magic surrounded him, and his scream startled Murderisk. The flying horse hovered higher and pawed at the air rather then stomping Zelda. The light magic singed the nightmare and then faded. Ganon slumped forward in the saddle. Apparently the arrow had gone deep and the light magic was still hurting him. "Murderisk, fly back to the fortress!" Ganon ordered, a large hand over the wound that was spewing silvery-red blood. He looked back at Link quickly. "We'll finish this later, Hero of Time! I will paint the ground with your blood, and give you a very slow, agonizing death!" The nightmare, though it had also been hurt by the effects of the well-aimed arrow, still had the strength to fly high into the sky and back towards the desert. The black dragons still alive in the courtyard saw their master leaving, and with a few more blasts of dark fire at soldiers and the castle, they followed him. Navi returned to Link.  
  
"You okay, Navi? Thanks for helping me with those monsters earlier." Link said.   
  
"Sorry I couldn't help you with Ganondorf. Whenever he's around, my whole body gets numb and I can't breathe...I just can't stand his evil magic!" Link nodded understandingly and Navi went under his hat. Link looked up at the wall where Zelda was. The only stairs leading up to it were were about fifty feet to his left. He was about to dash that way when Taig showed up. Taig had been fighting the dragons until they left, and when he saw Link staring up at the wall he ran over to him. The little red dragon's tail was singed and his left haunch had a slash in it, but other than that he was unharmed.  
  
"Taig, can you fly me up there? Zelda's hurt!" Link said. Taig nodded wordlessly and the Hylian climbed unto his back. The Prince of Dragons quickly transported Link up to the battlement and Link jumped off, running over to the unmoving Zelda. She was sprawled out and had burns the shape of horseshoes branded on her chest, which were smoking. Link took out his Arlia plant and used it, but it was not a medicine made for healing burns. It did little more than clean the wound and perhaps make it less painful. Link then took off his hat and covered Zelda's chest with it to stem the bloodflow (some of it was bleeding, but most was sealed by charred skin) and for modesty because her shirt had been nearly burnt off. Blushing a bit, he then put his cheek over her mouth to see if she was breathing. _Please don't be dead_, he prayed. Link heaved a long sigh of relief when he felt her light breath brush his face. "She's alive," He said, grinning at Taig. "Thanks for flying me up here."  
  
"No problem, buddy." Taig said. "The Great Prince of Dragons is always willing to help! By the way, I was single-handedly holding off a demondragon! Well...Naltha and Kars helped a tiny bit," He said. As if on cue, Naltha and Kars came into view as the flew over the wall and landed next to Link and Zelda. Chain and Cyphas jumped off their backs. Chain rushed over to Zelda and used a recently learned healing spell on her. It wasn't entirely successful because he was still very new at it, but Link could tell the wound had gotten a tiny bit smaller.  
  
"Well at least it did something, Chain. I think she'll be alright until she wakes up now." Link said. "Man, she had me worried. That's one huge horse Ganon's got."  
  
"Yeah, what was that thing? He had a black horse back when put an evil spirit in me, but nothing like that!" Chain said.  
  
"It was a nightmare," Zelda said. Everyone looked down at her in surprise. She was awake but very tired-looking.  
  
"Zelda, are you okay? What can we do for you?" Link asked, kneeling next to her and gently holding her head up. Zelda layed a hand on her chest and healed herself. Though the burns were gone, the powerful strike had knocked her senseless and she was still very dizzy. She was also exhausted by using so much of her magic. "Just take me to my bed, please." Zelda said weariliy. "I'll heal the wounded after I've gotten my magic back with rest." Link nodded and lifted her. This time he didn't even notice the pain in his back. He walked to the stairs leading off the wall, followed by Chain, Cyphas, and Taig (The griffons had gone to the courtyard to help the wounded). Cyphas was muttering about something irritably.   
  
"What is it, Cyphas?" Chain asked her. She had a large slash on her calve, but Chain had the feeling that wasn't what she was mad about.   
  
"Just annoying Hylians, that's all. A dragon grabbed me. I had everything under control and I was about to cut it's stupid fingers off, but Mr. Captain of the Royal Guard thinks I need help and cuts the dragons hand! Stupid man..." Chain snickered under his breath. Of course 'I had everything under control' probably meant the dragon was about to eat her. Chain knew she would never admit it, though. He was just glad she wasn't biting off his head for even talking to her. When they reached Zelda's room, Link lowered her slowly into her bed, covering her with a blanket.   
  
"Please wake me up in four hours," Zelda requested quitely. "In that time I will be rested enough to perform healing spells without fainting." Link smiled and gazed into her pretty blue eyes.   
  
"Okay. You get plently of rest, understand? I'll make sure nobody wakes you before four hours are up. Don't worry about the wounded. We'll take care of them while you sleep." Zelda thanked him and then felt something on her chest, looking under the covers she saw Link's hat. Blushing, she gave it to him. 

"Ehehe thanks....I didn't see anything!" Link said, taking it and turning away to hide his own blushing. Zelda laughed a bit.

"Don't worry, I believe you." Then she closed her eyes, and Chain, Cyphas, Taig and Link (after casting one last glance at Zelda) went to clean up the courtyard.

"King Ganondorf, are you alright?!" A Gerudo asked with concern as Ganon leapt off of Murderisk. Grimacing, the king yanked the deep light arrow out of his shoulder.   
  
"Do I bloody look alright?!" He growled in rage, shoving past her. "Put Murderisk in his area and bathe him." He ordered gruffly.  
  
"But Your Majesty, that horse responds kindly to no one but you! Two Gerudos were injured the last time we-"  
  
"I don't have the patience for your pathetic whining, Linura! Do it now!!" The woman started in fear and bowed.  
  
"Yes, Your Majesty..." She muttered as he left. Cursing and blasting inanimate objects, Ganondorf entered the improved Gerudo's Fortress and climbed towards his tower. Many of his servants, monster and Gerudo alike, had to dive out of the way to avoid being turned into a little pile of ashes. Two poes flew ahead to his tower to warn the servant there.  
  
"You'd better watch out, Raptyrant. Ganondorf's in a bad mood." A poe said, gleefully flying in circles around the monster's head.  
  
"Why?" The creature asked.  
  
"Foolish lizard. He's Ganondorf! He doesn't need an excuse to be in a bad mood!" The other poe said, grinning crazily and waving its lantern around as it joined it's brother in his orbit around the dinosaurish beast's head.  
  
"Begone, you whisps of stupidity!" Ganon growled as he reached the top of the stairs. He fired black magic at the poes, but as they were evil ghosts, the blasts went right through them.   
  
"Heheheheheeee! Yus, surrr!" A poe said, saluting with its lantern hand and hitting itself in the face. Irritated by this mocking behavior, Ganon shot lightening at them. Because it was made of bright electricity, the magic had the power to tear holes though them. Screaming girlishly, they stretched to cartoonish positions to dodge the magic, then flew off.  
  
"Erm...a less than successful invasion I take it?" Raptyrant asked. He was Ganon's one and only dinalstalfos. He looked like a raptor's skeleton wearing armor and a sword. He had used to be an ordinary dinalfos, but had been perticularly guileful and skilled. He had personally forced Link to use a red fairy once, and Ganon didn't want him gone when Link killed him. So, Ganondorf had used his dark magic to resurect the dinosaur and make him into a powerful dinalstalfos.   
  
"OBVIOUSLY!" Ganon raged, punching the dino's head off. Raptyrant's body felt around for the head, and when it found it, put it back on.   
  
"Sir, is there anything I can get you?" The dino asked. Ganon turned to face him and discovered he had put his head on backwards.   
  
"I am surrounded by imbeciles!" Ganon yelled angrilly, gripping the dino's head rather hard and twisting it back around. Yelping in fear, Raptyrant backed off.   
  
"Sorry sir, just trying to make you laugh..."  
  
"FOOL! The only time I will laugh or feel happiness is when my hands are coated with Link's warm blood! Or Zelda's blood! Or the sages' blood! Or maybe YOUR blood! I will make sure you grow sensitive skin and die a second time if you attempt humor again!"  
  
"Y-yes sir! I hope you get your happiness the next time you meet Link, sir." The dinalstalfos said, falling silent.  
  
"By the way, have you recieved word from Llance yet? He will pay dearly for his lateness. He should have been here with his army long ago." The undead dino shook it's head. "Get me a drink before I slowly exterminate your soul," Ganon said. Nodding, Raptyrant gladly ran off. The furious Gerudo King's anger was somewhat abetted by what he saw as he pushed the door to his room open. His experiment was progrssing nicely. "Well, at least some good came from my raid this morning." Ganon growled, channeling dark power into his hand and placing it on his shoulder to cancel out the light magic there. "Or should I say some evil? Link will be sorry for using so much legendary magic after my first attack on him when he sees this. No matter how hard he tries to beat me, he won't be able to win when my weapon is complete. I will hold him powerless, watch him suffer and bleed on his knees...AHAHAAHAAA!"  
  
**Section 7  
  
The Lure**  
  
_ Where am I, exactly? This place is so dark...if I hold out my hand one inch in front of my face, I can't see it. Yet I have a strange feeling that the darkness isn't causing this...Suddenly something gold looms up in front of me, filling my vision with its metallic glare. It seems to be the golden symbol of Royalty. It's the symbol of my Father and I; shaped like a phoenix that has a triforce for a head. The symbol gradully fades into nothingness and I see something else: Link. What is he doing here? I try to say something but can't even talk. I get the feeling that I'm witnessing something that I'm not even close to, like I'm here in spirit. Link looks determined about something and is walking away from me.  
  
The vision changes. Now I stand in a damp, dirty jail cell. The walls around me are made of stone. I feel rather than sense someone standing next to me. I turn and if I were able to make a sound, I would have screamed. I stand next to Ganondorf! He has a sadistic grin on his face. He's looking at a strangely-shaped object, perhaps a weapon, which flares with purple light every now and then. He says something but all is silent. From the moving of his lips I think he said something about Link. The object he's staring at vanishes and he looks forward, anticipation written on his face. I hear something far away; it sounds like a horse whinying. Then I hear something else from within the room: footsteps. Link comes around the corner and looks into the cell I'm standing in. He smiles and his mouth moves, but I hear nothing. Everything is covered by a strange, soundless blanket in this place. He comes toward the cell and pulls out a key. What's he doing? Doesn't he see Ganondorf? Ganon pulls a long, very sharp and slightly curved Gerudo sword from his belt. Link, stop! Don't open the cell! I scream, but the frustrating silence is not broken. He doesn't hear me and opens the cell. Ganon takes the chance and drives his sword straight through Link's stomach. As this happens a frighteningly loud sound shatters the quiet: Link's scream. Blood runs down Ganon's blade and starts soaking the ground even as the Evil King stares into Link's shocked, wide eyes, grinning evily. He laughs maniacally and kicks Link off his blade. Link hits the ground and coughs thickly, his eyes closing for the last time. Then I see nothing but light.  
_

Link walked by himself down to Zelda's room. His friends were still helping the physicians tend to the wounded, but it was time to wake the princess up. Link had discovered why he had seen citizens running around in the courtyard that morning. The monsters that now surrounded the castle (but were being slowly picked off and scared away by archers) had first invaded Castle Town. The soldiers stationed there had managed to hold off the flood of monsters long enough for the citizens to flee from their homes, across the castle's lawn and into the safety of its walls. After that, the soldiers couldn't hold them off any longer and were forced to retreat to the castle. The monsters had a few intelligent ones among them (primarily stalfoses) and one of them had brought a bomb, which they had blown up the chain on the drawbridge with. That was when Link and Chain had woken up to join the fray.   
  
When Ganondorf and his evil dragons showed up (Taig had called them 'demondragons'), the dragons had gone straight for the citizens. With the help of soldiers and Zelda, however, they had managed to hold the beasts at bay. A score of men had been injured and a few people had died, but most were okay. Some of the castle walls had been damaged as well, but the attack could have been much worse. Link hoped Ganondorf didn't have any more dragons where those ones had come from. Link was brought out of his thoughts as he reached Zelda's room.   
  
He pushed the door open quietly and snuck inside. For some reason, he wanted to see her sleeping before waking her up. Link was startled to find himself comparing her to an angel as she lay there, golden hair surrounding her pretty face. _The only way she could look more pretty is if her eyes were open and she was smiling,_ Link thought to himself. _But I can't allow those kind of thoughts. She's the princess and I'm her protecter. If I let myself get distracted by such things, it will put us both in danger_...Still, Link couldn't help but kneel next to her to get a closer look. He had never really noticed how long and dark her eyelashes were and how soft her skin was. It reminded him of a flower petal. _Enough of this! Time to wake her up..._Even as the thought entered Link's head, he bent down and kissed Zelda's forehead. _Why'd I do that? I need to control myself! Poor Zelda...a mere commoner like me kissing her in her sleep...  
_  
"Zelda. Wake up, Zelda." Link said. Her deep blue eyes fluttered open and she sat up, stretching.  
  
"Ah, that feels much better. Hello, Link." She said, a pretty smile covering her face. "What's the damage?" She asked, getting out of her bed. Link looked at the floor sadly.  
  
"Three were killed," He began. "One Royal Guard named Fren, one Hyrule Army soldier named Hunter, and one citizen named Alina. She was Garret's sister and Ector's aunt."  
  
"I didn't know they were related. That's terrible...Ganon's monsters attacking innocent women like that..." Zelda said, leaving her room with Link following her. The two talked on the way to the infirmary.  
  
"Twenty-one were wounded, including Impa and your father. They'll be alright, though. The only one who was permanently damaged is an old soldier who got his hand bitten off. The dragons put a hole in the north wall so you can walk right into the castle's hall from it, and destroyed the second set of stairs leading up to the battlements. They also put a dent in the stone hallway connecting the castle and the army soldier's barracks." The Hyrule Army and the Royal Guard barracks were next to each other and connected to each other by an inclosed stone hallway. Both were also joined to the castle by similar hallways. They led straight into the courtyard so the soldiers could go there and train in the morning.  
  
"Well, it could have been worse," Zelda said. "We should be grateful only three were killed. If Ganondorf had attacked soldiers and citizens rather than me and you, I'm sure the casualties would have been much higher." Link nodded somberly.  
  
"I'm going after Ganondorf very soon. He can't be allowed to continue this."  
  
"Link, are you daft? You can't just go charging into the Gerudo's Fortress! You'd only get killed. We must wait for the races of Hyrule to gather here and make a counterattack."  
  
"What good is that? Ganon probably has an unlimited amount of monsters at his fortress. Even with the combined might of the races, we don't have that great of chance-"  
  
"Link, are you thinking about what you're saying? We have dragons, griffons, and calwots on our side! It's not just gorons and zoras anymore. I think we'll have Ganon sorely outmatched when the races get here. There's so many we'll have trouble making accomodations! Good thing father told the dragons to bring their flying fortress. It's the only building large enough to house a force, and I don't want armies camping all over Royal Field, where they're open to an attack."  
  
"I guess you've got a point, but I can't help but wonder what Ganon's got in store. I think he attacked today knowing that he'd be defeated. He was just checking our defense or something..."  
  
"Well even so, you can't go to the fortress by yourself." Zelda stopped walking and lowered her voice. "I had another nightmare that I suspect is prophetic like the last one." She leaned up against the wall, half-crossing her arms.  
  
"Was it bad?" Link asked, looking at her.  
  
"Oh yeah. You ...died again, and I saw light again at it's end."  
  
"So, was it the same as the last one?"  
  
"No. In this one you walked away fromt he Royal Seal and came to a dungeon. You unlocked a cell with Ganondorf in it, and he killed you. Obviously that's probably not exactly what will happen to you, but perhaps Ganon will trick you somehow..." Zelda looked very distressed. Dreams of Link dying were the worst kind of nightmare for her. Link put a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"That's very disturbing...if I go there, I'd better be careful." Link said. Zelda shook her head violently.  
  
"Link, don't go at all! You walked away fromt the Royal Seal, away from me! Don't make my dream come true, Link...please promise me you won't go." Link was silent for a moment. How could he make such a promise? Ganondorf was him nemesis, he had to go fight him...  
  
"Ah Link, I found you. Come with me, will you?" It was Cyphas, coming from out of nowhere like usual.   
  
"Cyphas? W-where'd you come from?" Link asked, quickly taking his hand off Zelda's shoulder as Cyphas raised an eyebrow. "I need to help with the wounded..." Link began.  
  
"No, you don't. I already asked, and they've got plenty of help. I need to talk to you." Link nodded.  
  
"See you later, Zelda." He said quickly, glad he didn't have to make a promise he wasn't sure he could keep. "Hey, I just remembered...I've gotta check on Malon and the Kokiris sometime today. I'm worried about them."  
  
"Wait, Link. You don't have to check on the Kokiris. After my dream ended, I contacted the Sages while I was still sleeping. They're all fine, including Saria. I'll see you later," She said, waving. Before she turned away, she stared pleadingly into Link's eyes. The stare tore at him, begging him not to go to Ganondorf.  
  
"You coming or not, Link? Or are you going to stare after her all night, lover boy?" Link was startled and a little indignant at being called that. Nevertheless, he followed Cyphas.  
  
"What are you talking about? Me and Zelda were talking about something scary and I was reassuring her. I didn't put my hand on her shoulder because we were going to kiss or anything!"  
  
"I wasn't implying that you were going to kiss her. Guilty conscience?" Cyphas asked, displaying that cocky grin that showed all her pointy teeth. Link glared at her.  
  
"This isn't a joke. I'm telling the truth!" Cyphas would've liked nothing more than to mock Link furthur, but she had a stony image to maintain, and by Link's expression it seemed she had gone too far already.  
  
"Alright, alright. Don'y get touchy, okay? Sorry." Link was almost surprised at this response  
  
"So...you don't really want to 'talk' to me, do you?" Link asked as they reached the courtyard.  
  
"Of course I'm going to talk to you, but that's not the only thing. I'm sure you've guessed I'm going to punch you, too."  
  
"Yeah, I figured as much." Link said less than happily. The two came to a stop by the courtyard wall opposite the one that was being repaired. "Oh well, I'm ready for it. I think I've healed a bit since last time..."  
  
"Good. Now then, remember to do everything I've taught you. Here we go!" Link tightened his stomach and quickly exhaled before Cyphas's fist drove into his stomach. He also turned slightly so that the punch hit the very tip of his ribs. If the punch hit the center of the ribs full-on they would break, and if the punch hit nothing but gut it could damage organs. To Link's surprise, the punch didn't hurt all that much when he did what Cyphas had taught him. It didn't move him much, either. "Great! I think you've finally got it though your thick skull! Amazing! We should post a public announcement that Link displayed intellect!"  
  
"Oh be quiet," Link said, scowling at her.  
  
"Now for a hard one."   
  
"Aw, man..."  
  
"Stop complaining!" Cyphas yelled, punching again, but much harder. Link did as he was taught and again, the punch didn't move him much. When he inhaled it hurt, but he restrained himself from showing it.  
  
"Nice! You've graduated from Cyphas's 'taking a punch' class! How about one more for extra credit?"  
  
"Are you kidding?!"   
  
"I thought you wanted to get stronger..." Cyphas said, looking away.  
  
"Fine then! I hate you. Ugh!" This punch was brutally hard and made Link double over. "Dangit, Cyphas! You just like punching poor innocent Hylians, don't you?!"  
  
"Heheh...yes! No, I'm just kidding. I really do want you to become stronger. The people here depend on you. I can see it in the way they look at you. Besides, I have a graduation present for you!" Link sat on the ground, rubbing his stomach.  
  
"I hope it's letting me get this healed by Zelda-"  
  
"No!" Cyphas leaned down and pulled Link's boots off.  
  
"H-hey! My present is getting my boots stolen?!"  
  
"Will you shut up and wait for me to explain, you twit? I'm going to put blades in your boots, just like mine. They come in very handy."  
  
"Oh, really?" Link said, brightening up. "Those blades are pretty cool."   
  
"Well, it's going to take a day to install them, so I suggest finding some different footwear in the meantime."  
  
"No problem. I have hover boots," Link said, putting them on. The white-bottomed winged boots could hover on thin air for a few seconds, but had very little traction on the ground. Link would gladly bear the sliding around for a day if he had blades like Cyphas's the next. He decided he would check on Malon tomorrow the first thing. He wasn't about to cross Hyrule Field in his hover boots when there was a great chance he could be attacked by a gang of Ganon's servants. Without another word, Cyphas vaulted over the wall to go to wherever she went when nobody saw her, and Link stood up, groaning as his stomach throbbed. Zelda's going to murder me if she finds out, Link thought, sitting down again to rest for a minute. Navi woke up and yawned, coming out from under his hat.  
  
"Hello," She said sleepily.  
  
"Hey Navi, why do you sleep so much? Is it because you're away from the forest?" Link asked his partner. It sounded like a casual question, but the fairy's condition had been bothering link for quite some time.  
  
"Yes...being away from the forest drains me now that you're not carrying the forest medallion anymore."  
  
"Well, if I took it from the temple again it would fall more easily to an attack, so I can't get it."  
  
"Yes, it's where it belongs."  
  
"Navi...I know we're partners and everything, but being away from the forest is unhealthy for you, and you have a life of your own. It's time to stop thinking about me and think about yourself. What if you die away from the forest?"  
  
"Don't be rediculous! I can't leave you by yourself! Yet...you did survive after I left you at the Temple of Time...but I'm just fine!"  
  
"Navi, I can feel you almost just like you feel me. You're getting weak and you're trying to hide it. You sleep all the time. I'll understand if you go back to the forest. I can't be a burden on you anymore. No, don't look at me like that. You know you can't follow me around much longer or you'll keel over!" Link held out his hand and Navi fluttered down into it.  
  
"But I missed you so much when I left you...how can I stand to be away form my partner? You're my Kokiri."  
  
"We both know I'm not a Kokiri. There's lots of fairies in the Lost Woods...go find yourself a husband!"  
  
"You know, after being the Hero of Time's partner, I bet it wouldn't be too hard to find a man..."  
  
"Just make sure he's right for you, Navi. You deserve the best!"  
  
"You're trying to give me advice in that department? After running away from every advance Zelda's made on you? Hehehehe!"  
  
"What are you talking about?" Link asked, pretending to be ignorant.   
  
"Never mind...I'm going back to sleep. I'll go back to the forest sometime Link, but just now you need me. Good night!" She said preremptorily, flying back into Link's hat. He shook his head, hoping she wasn't overestimating herself. He then got up and walked to the opposite side of the courtyard to help rebuild a large hole. The rest of the day passed with repairs and ended with funerals. At dinner the King announced that the races would no doubt start arriving any time and once they did he would discuss tactics with their leaders. He also said that Kakariko village would be evacuated before it was attacked, and its inahbitants would stay at the castle. Link thought the process was all too slow. He wanted to fight Ganon as soon as possible. His inevitable and probably deadly yet strangely inviting confrontation with Ganondorf was calling to him. After the King made his announcement Zelda had once again warned Link not to go to the Fortress. This time he had gotten out of promising not to go by changing the subject and talking to the King. It irritated Zelda, but she didn't think he was stupid enough to actually go. Link thought he probably wouln't go just yet, either. He had to heal first, but one thing was for sure: it would not be long before the Hero of Time met the King of Evil once again.

-hello, thanks for reading! Read next time for the end of this story, when Link can't resist the urge to go to the Grudo's Fortress anymore! Will another encounter with Ganon in his condition be his last? Bwahaha corney rhetorical question!! er, sorry. Cya next time -Talonclawfange


	4. The Threat to Life 8,9

wheeee! the last installment of this story! eheh I hope you like it but it gets a little violent at the end. Just to warn ya, if ya don't like blood....well, that's why this is pg-13!

The next morning, Link wasted no time. He had an early breakfast, before even his friends were awake, and got out of the castle by jumping off the battlements into the moat. When he got out he was going to call for Cyphas, but stopped as he saw her jump out of a nearby tree.  
  
"A tree? That's were you go when nobody sees you?" Link asked incredulously.  
  
"Trees happen to be very comfortable to me! Anyway, here's your boots. I found out the soles of your brown ones are too thin to put blades in, so I put the blades in these black ones instead." She said, tossing both pairs to him. He pushed the small buttons on the inside of each heel of the black boots, making blades spring out of their slits just above the tread. He pushed the buttons again and the blades retracted.  
  
"So cool! Thanks, Cyphas. I'd love to talk, but I have a ranch girl to check on." He said, putting his old brown boots on. He'd try out the black ones later.  
  
"Isn't it a bit early? The sun's barely rising!" The swamp woman pointed out.  
  
"You kidding? She'll have been awake for an hour now. Such is the life of a ranch girl. See you later, Cyphas."  
  
"Don't get into any trouble, Link. I won't be around to save your sorry butt if you get into trouble across Hyrule Field!" Link laughed good-naturedly and, after dropping off his new boots in his room, went to the stables. He picked out one of the horses reserved for Royal Guards (he was a healthy-looking black one with white highlights and a white star-shaped mark on his forehead. The sign next to his stall said his name was Dark Sky); and Link and the horse took off.  
  
_Let Malon be alright_, Link hoped as the horse tore across Hyrule Field. He was a fast horse, but nowhere near as fast as Epona had been. Link just hoped that Malon hadn't met the same fate as his horse...In about twenty minutes, Link reached the ranch. He got there about the same time the sun rose, and he discovered that the sky was completely overcast, just like so many days before. He suspected Ganon had something to do with the crazy weather. Irritatingly, his horse started snorting and bucking, as if spooked by something. Link leapt off and petted the horse's silky nose, calming him. He then tied Dark Sky's reins to a nearby tree and walked into the ranch. A few steps in, Link stopped dead in his tracks. Was that blood he smelled? The place was awfully quiet, and as Link rounded the corner he saw what he had been dreading.   
  
Lon Lon Ranch was a wreck. The buildings had been smashed practically to rubble, and all the animals were gone. There were feathers everywhere and link supposed the animals must have been stolen, since their bodies were nowhere to be seen. Link knew he probably wouldn't get a reply, but he called for Malon anyway, shouting her name as he walked around the ranch. Only one piece of building was left standing, and Link walked over to it. There seemed to be nothing special about the wall until he walked around to the other side, and gasped at what he saw. There was blood smeared all over it. Link already knew whos blood that was.  
  
Link punched the wall in a rage, sending splinters everywhere. "Blast you, Ganondorf!!" Link instantly forgot any ideas of waiting to attack Ganon. He couldn't wait around for more of his friends to be stolen or killed! Ganondorf was a threat to every soul in Hyrule. He was a threat to life. _The_ threat to life! Link had to stop that threat. He dashed outside and quickly untied Dark Sky. He vaulted onto the horse's back and urged him into a rapid gallop, straight toward Gerudo's Fortress.

Three hours passed like three minutes to Link, and finally they reached the area before the fortress. All over Hyrule the sky was overcast, but here the clouds were so dark and thick it was almost like night. The carpenter's tent that had used to be there was gone, and the bridge had been destroyed. There were some monsters on the other side of the chasm (the one that the bridge had once crossed and had a river about four hundered and fifty feet down). Link pulled Dark Sky to a stop. The valiant horse had galloped almost the whole way, very impressive for a horse that wasn't Epona (Link was stabbed by sadness and anger by her memory). He got off the horse and tied him to a mostly dead tree. Giving the horse a grateful pat, Link left him and pulled out his hookshot. He shot it into the wodden arch on the other side of the chasm. Naturally, as the chain pulled him over it made lots of noise, and the monsters attacked as he landed. He killed them all quickly, without breaking a sweat. Now that there was very little between him and his goal, he wouldn't waste time on small fries (even if those 'small' fries happened to be six-foot tall moblins). As Link got farther down the path that wove between sand hills towards the fortress, he heard the footsteps of guards. He quickly scaled the sand hill next to him and snuck around the guards. From the top of the hill, he had a full view of the fortress. Link gasped as he took in the awsome sight. The fortress had been changed dramatically. It was about three times as big, and instead of having flat roofs, it now had sky-scraping towers made of black stone. Torches with green fire blazed fiercely inside windows and on walls. The black clouds in the sky obviously came from here, and there was a huge mass of swirling clouds at the top. It was Ganondorf's handywork, all right.   
  
Link had no trouble sneaking around the rest of the Gerudo guards and monster patrols, slipping behing them and stunning them when necessary. Eventually he reached the fortress itself, and entered the dark place. The only lights inside were more green torches, making it somewhat difficult to see. This disturbed Link. What if a Gerudo was watching him from the shadows? He drew his sword, just in case. The first room he passed through was nothing but a storage room. It had boxes and jars, but no sign of a cell where a prisoner could be kept, such as Malon. In the next room there was nothing at all, save for an ominous atmosphere. As Link walked he heard a nearly inaudiable sound above him. Link's insticts took over and he rolled quickly to the side as a Gerudo dropped down, slicing the area his head had been in milliseconds ago.   
  
"Caught you, Link! You won't get out of here alive!" With that, the red-garbed (Link supposed she was wearing red because she was a warden. He saw cell keys on her belt) Gerudo leapt at Link, cutting quickly with her double scimitars. Link had plenty of experince fighting Gerudos, and dodged every one of her predictable attacks.  
  
"C'mon, Gerudos are supposed to be the best sword fighters in Hyrule, aren't they?" Link asked, just to make her mad. It worked and she leapt at him quickly, spinning and slashing. Link did something he had practiced a few months ago, a move he called the flipslash. He backflipped to dodge the Gerudo's blade, and as he was coming down he struck out with his sword in a wide arc, using his flipping momentum to create a strong attack. The attack hit the woman's sword out of her hand, and taking adavantage of her surprise, he quickly slashed at her other sword, knocking that away as well. He held up his sword to her face.   
  
"I wont hurt you if you give me the key to Malon's cell. Well, not too bad, anyways." The woman simply glared at him in reply. "Have it your way," Link said, reversing his grip and hitting the top of her head with his hilt. The unconscious woman slumped to the ground, and Link relieved her of her keyring. Wasting no time, he went to the next room. It had a couple guards, but nothing special. He snuck past them and continued on, down twisting hallways and confusing turns, up stairways and through rooms. Link went through five more chambers, each containing no prisoner, and began to wonder if he'd find Malon anytime soon. Link knew he was getting deep and high in the fortress, and he rested momentarily against the wall next to him. To his surprise, the wall fell open._ Whoa, a secret passage_! Link thought, enterring it. To his relief he found what he was looking for as he crept down the passageway. There was a barred window in the wall and when Link peered into it he saw a very dim room. It had only two torches in it. Ganondorf was sitting on a throne, his ugly mug barely illuminated enough to make out. Link burned with rage as he watched Ganon, who was sitting quite still, as if waiting. Behind Ganon was a cell, and inside that cell was Malon. Suddenly a Gerudo ran into the room and bowed before the Gerudo King.  
  
"Sir, another guard has been knocked out. It was the warden, and her keys were taken." The woman said.  
  
"Good," Ganondorf said, a satisfactory smile covering his dark face. "Link will be here soon. I will cloak myself. Do not come back into this room unless you recieve word that Link is not close to here. If that happens he must be lost... you lead him here, understand?"  
  
"Yes, Master of Evil. It will be done." The woman smiled wolfishly and left. _So, they plan to lead me in there, do they? What do they think I am, a rat looking blindly for cheese? They'll have to do better than that. But anyways, how'm I going to get Ganondorf out of there? I've gotta think of something_...As Link thought, Ganon spoke a few words and a blackness enveloped him. It was now impossible to see where he was in the room. Malon gasped.   
  
"Scared of the dark, little ranch girl?" Ganon's hard, mocking voice said, form nowhere in particular.  
  
"You won't get away with this, Ganon. I'll tell Link you're in here." She said, and Link heard rattling of chains. He couldn't see her very well, but it looked as if she might be chained to the wall.  
  
"Don't be foolish. Do you know how perfect a lure you are? Link will be here, whether you tell him to stay away or not. It's his nature. He can't resist his nature. Besides, I'm not done weaving spells. You won't be able to say anything to anyone when I'm done with you." Link heard Malon inhale sharply and then scream, but something was muffling it, like a hand. He heard a deep sound and chanting that accompanies a curse, and then heard nothing. It was all he could do to restrain himself from breaking in and fighting Ganon now for daring to put his hands on Malon. But if he did that, Ganon would probably murder her before his eyes. Then a thing that would get Ganon out of that room came to Link's mind. He walked along the hall until he came to another window he had passed earlier, which looked out over the fortress grounds. He drew his bow and took careful aim at a guard walking around out there, about six hundred feet away. He hated to shoot at someone so cheaply, but it seemed to be the only way to save Malon. Link transformed the arrow into a light one, and released it. The Gerudo guard screamed as the arrow plunged deep into her leg. She must have been quite evil, because the light magic caused her to writhe in agony. Link saw other guards and a few monsters rush over to her. To his satisfaction, he heard one of them say 'get King Ganondorf, he's the only one who can get rid of light magic'. He returned to the other window. Minutes later, a lizalfos which seemed to be made only of bones burst into the room Ganondorf was in.  
  
"This had better be important, Raptyrant." Ganon's angry voice said. The dino bowed.  
  
"Evil King, a guard has been shot with a light arrow. She is far away from here, though. Link can't be very close."  
  
"Either the fool is lost, or he's plotting something...this is very suspicious. Why would he use a light arrow?" Link growled and scolded himself silently. He had forgotten that Ganondorf was smart. Fortunately for him, Ganon must not know his castle well enough to know there was a spot Link could spy on him and shoot his guards from. Unfortunately, Ganon seemed to have remembered it that very moment, and as the King made himself visible, he looked Link's way. Sweating buckets, Link ducked as fast as he could to avoid being seen. His heart pounded so loudly he could barely hear Ganon. He put a hand over his mouth to silence his breathing. "No, he couldn't have found that place...he must be lost. Alright, I'll go take care of her." Link sighed quietly in relief. "You stay here and guard. If Link comes, wound him but don't kill him. I want that pleasure." _The jerk_...Link thought. _But now Zelda's dream can't come true. If I get in and out of there quickly, we won't be around to try and kill me_. As soon as he was sure the King of Evil was gone, Link pulled out his bow and shot Raptyrant with a fire arrow. To his surprise, the dinalstalfos went up in a puff of smoke, dissappearing. My arrows must be getting stronger or something. Link thought, then he used his gauntlets to bend the bars sepparating him from the room. He squeezed though the window and dropped onto the stone ground.   
  
"Finally I found you," He said, smiling at Malon. He walked over to the cell and unlocked it. As Malon saw him she shook her head violently and tried to say something, but the enchantment prevented her. She had been chained to the wall by her wrists, and the chains clanked as she struggled. She had a nasty-looking slash on her left arm and was very dirty, but other than that she was unharmed. "Hey, don't worry. Ganondorf just left, didn't you see him?" Link unlocked the chains on her wrists and used an anti-curse spell taught him by Zelda.  
  
"Link, it's a trap! Ganondorf isn't gone!" Malon yelled. "Look out!" Link gasped and whirled around, then saw a gleam in the dim torchlight. It was a sword aimed for his stomach! Thanks to Malon's warning, he had seen it early enough to dodge. He grabbed her and twisted out of the way of the blade, but it grazed his side and gave him an inch-deep slash, making him inhale sharply in pain.  
  
"Fool! You fell for my illusion!" Ganondorf yelled triumpantly, laughing. Link, though he was quite terrified, thought quickly. He threw a deku nut at Ganon's face and as it exploded it blinded the King briefly. Link pulled out his bow and shot him in the shoulder with a light arrow, the same place as last time. "Aaaaaaagggghhhhhhh! Die, Link!" Ganon hacked at Link blindly, but the Hylian dodged and grabbed Malon's wrist, pulling her after him as he dashed out of the room. He and Malon ran thorugh many rooms and nearly got lost once, stunning guards left and right as they escaped. By the time Link and Malon reached the outside they were both panting, but Link couldn't risk slowing down now. Not with a life in his hands.   
  
Link decided to stop stunning guards because someone might follow the trail of unconscious people and surround he and Malon. The two of them sneaked silently and quickly past the guards and patrols outside, until they reached a sand hill. Link pulled Malon behind it and handed her his hookshot.   
  
"Use this to escape, Malon. Run to the chasm with a river in it and hookshot to the other side. You'll find a black horse tied up. Take the horse and ride until you're out of the desert. Go to the lake from there. The horse will be exhasusted by then, so let him rest while you're there and take him to Hyrule Castle once he's ready. If you find any monsters try to go around them. That horse is fast-" Malon put a finger over Link's lips and he went silent.  
  
"I'll be fine, Link. Just let me thank my rescuer before I go." She embraced Link tightly for a few seconds, then released him and looked up into his face. He knew what she wanted. It was his turn to put a finger over her lips.  
  
"Sorry, Malon. You're welcome for saving you, but I'm not going to kiss you." She looked mighty dissappointed. He sighed. "I'm really sorry. Talk to Chain when you get to the castle and he'll help you settle in."  
  
"What are you going to do?"  
  
"I have some unfinished buisiness."   
  
"But what if you need help? I could stay-"  
  
"No way! I didn't just pull you out from under Ganon's nose so you could stay here! _Please _go." Malon looked indecisive for a moment, but Link's pleading look won her over. She nodded and turned away, racing off toward the exit. Link turned back to Gerudo's Fortress. "It's time to repay Ganondorf for everybody he's killed and hurt...ready or not, here I come!"  
  
**Section 8  
  
Nightmare Melee**  
  
"Link, are you aware of how corney that sounded?" Link nearly jumped out of his skin at a voice right next to his head. It was Navi, fluttering out of his hat.  
  
"Sheesh! Don't scare me like that!" Link said. "This whole place is packed with guards, I thought you were one of them!"  
  
"Just what the heck are we doing here, anyway? I thought Zelda told you to stay away from it! Do you ever listen to her? She has the Triforce of Wisdom, you know!"  
  
"I know, I know. But if you hadn't been sleeping, you'd know that Ganon kidnapped Malon! I had to save her." Navi sighed.  
  
"Well, mr. savior, they're following your trail."  
  
"What? Who is? What trail..." Link remembered he was bleeding. He looked down and saw a nice trail of blood leading straight to him. He heard voices coming closer. "Uh-oh! Let's go, Navi!" Link ran down the hill he was on, and in his haste he tripped on the unpacked sand and rolled down. Fortunately the fall didn't hurt, so Link jumped up and ran to the right, behind more sandhills and towards the fortress. Bleeding or not, he couldn't leave the fortress yet. Unfortunately, as he came out from behind the next sand hill he passed, he ran smack into a patrol of monsters that had been looking for him. "Not good!!" Link said, skidding to a stop and running around them before they could attack. Again his luck failed him as he ran smack into a bunch of Gerudo guards that had been watching for him. Before he could escape, the monsters and Gerudos surrounded him. He backed away, into the middle of their circle, and drew his sword. "Any bright ideas, Navi?"  
  
"Um...say goodbye to Hyrule?" The fairy responded.  
  
"This is no time for jokes!" Link said, staring around at the ring of enemies.  
  
"Alright, alright. Use the Kai-ten-giri attack!" She said helpfully.  
  
"Uh...Oh yeah!" Link said, scratching his head. "Thanks, Navi!" He said, grinning at her.  
  
"Just do it, you twit! They're closing in!" Navi yelled excitedly.  
  
"Oh, right. Kai-ten-giri!" Link yelled, powering up his sword quickly and letting the magic go. The force of it spun him in a circle, and a huge ring of red fire destroyed the monsters around Link. However, the Gerudos were smart enough to block and were not hurt by it. There were still five of them, and Link knew if he tried to face them all there was no way he'd get away uninjured. All five of them sprang at him as one. Link quickly ducked, covered his eyes, and hurled a deku nut at the ground. The blinding flash caused the Gerudos to knock into eachother, and Link dashed away in the confusion. He ran to the fortress and ducked behind a shadowy wall, plopping down to catch his breath.   
  
"That was...close!" He said, putting a hand over the cut in his side.   
  
"Good grief, Link, you're such an airhead! Would you really have forgotten to do the kai-ten-giri?!"  
  
"Um...I dunno." He said, scratching his head again. Navi grimaced.   
  
"Well, at least you were smart enough to use a deku nut. I think you're a different person when death comes too close to you! By the way, why aren't you using Arlia on that?"  
  
"Huh? Oh yeah!" Link said oh-so-intelligently. Sweat drop on Navi's head. Link got out the plant and used it. After he had healed himself and gotten a few moments to catch his breath, he stood up._ I need to find Ganondorf and get him by himself...how am I going to do that? Guards and monsters are everywhere...there's no way I'll get him by himself_...As Link was thinking, he and Navi heard a sound. It was a horse neighing wildly, followed by several sharp cracks. Link followed the sound, walking around behind the fortress. There was a fence and Link climbed over it, continuing toward the sound. He heard it some more, and knew it must be a horse getting whipped. That neighing sounded awfully familiar...  
  
"Link, isn't that..."  
  
"That sounds like... But that's impossible...well, let's go anyways!" Link finally came around a protruding wall and discovered the source of the sound. Two Gerudo women were attempting to control Link's wild horse Epona, whipping her and ordering her to stop bucking. "STOP!" Link yelled quite loud enough for them to hear, and drew his bow. "The next one of you that whips my horse will get a light arrow!" He said, and the women backed away from Epona, staring at him. "Get out of here!" But, the Gerudos would have none of that. They were thieves, not cowards. They both dropped their whips and drew their swords, running at Link (Navi yelled 'watch out!' and flew over to the closest one, illuminating her head with yellow light to help Link aim). He decided not to waste a light arrow, instead firing a normal one at the closest Gerudo's head. The arrow impacted the tough jewel on her forehead. The jewel was not shattered and protected her from death, but the impact of the arrow stunned her, making her fall to the ground with a short groan. Link didn't have time to hit the second with an arrow, so he drew his sword and rolled out of her way as she attacked (Navi yelled 'look!' and illuminated her head as well). He had rolled behind her and sprang to his feet, smacking the back of her head with the flat of his blade. She too fell to the ground, unconscious.  
  
"I can't believe it. Epona, you're alive!" Link ran to his horse and embraced her muscular neck. She immediately calmed down, recognizing her friend. Neighing happily, she rubbed his back with her chin. Link stood back and examined her, petting her soft nose. "Those rotten women whipped you pretty good, didn't they? And look how skinny you are! Mean Geudos..." Link saw that his horse was tied to a thick post by a rope and a chain. The chain was attatched to her right front hoof and the rope bound her neck. "I'm really sorry, Epona. If I had known you were still alive, I would have come much sooner," Link said, getting out his Arlia. He quickly healed all Epona's whipslashes and then drew his sword. With a quick, strong strike he broke the chain around Epona's hoof. "Forgive me?" he asked, putting the sword away. In response, the horse nickered fondly and licked Link's face. Her huge, thick tongue got sticky saliva all over his grimacing face. Navi laughed really hard, rolling around on Link's head. "I'll take that as a yes," he said, wiping the gooey wetness off. Then Epona neighed in warning and backed away, close to her post.   
  
"Watch out!" Navi yelled, pointing excitedly at something behind Link's back. He turned and found himself face-to-face with Ganondorf's demonic horse.  
  
"Murderisk..." Link muttered, backing away. How did he sneak over here without me hearing him? Sure is huge this close...The silky black stallion snorted and pawed the ground in a gesture Link knew was a sign of hostility among horses. He then neighed loudly and shook his head, long red hair waving around like a flame. Link raised his arm slowly, reaching back for his sword. The moment Link's fingers touched the hilt the nightmare charged at him, making a shrieking noise which was very unhorsish. "Yikes!" Link yelled, jumping to the side and drawing his sword. Murderisk was suprisingly fast for such a large horse, and Link barely dodged his flaming hooves. Giving Link no time to recover, Murderisk persued him. "Whoa, nice horsey!" Link said, running away from the horse.   
  
"Link, what are you doing?! You can't outrun that horse, fight it!" Navi screamed. "Oh, for heaven's sake!" The fairy zoomed over to Murderisk and flew in his face, shining brightly and slowing him down. Link turned and slashed at the nightmare's chest, But the horse moved back and Link's sword glanced harmlessly off his chest armor. Neighing angrilly, Murderisk bit at Navi. Navi screamed and flew quickly over to Link. "He tried to eat me! Get him, Link!" Ganon's horse reared up and leapt at Link, who rolled to the left and slashed at the horse's forelegs. He gave the nightmare a slash, not really hurting him but making him more angry. "That's not going to work, do some more damage!" Navi yelled.  
  
"Navi, will you be quiet and let me fight? This isn't as easy as it looks! All that nightmare has to do is stomp me once, and his weight would crush me!" Navi got quiet and Link dodged Murderisk again as the horse ran at him. This time Murderisk leapt into the air before Link had a chance to wound him. The horse flew around, swooping at Link. Link was forced to run again, and dove behind a sand dune as Murderisk's hooves missed him so narrowly he felt their heat. "Crazy horse! Go away!" Link yelled frusteratedly, firing an arrow at the horse. As Murderisk dodged it Link wondered briefly why he wasn't surrounded by now. He was making plenty of noise. He looked over at the fortress and saw that he had actually gotten quite far away form it as he ran from Murderisk. He saw Epona, still tied to the post by her neck. She was biting furiously at the knot.   
  
Murderisk circled around and dove at Link again, this time spewing hot flames from his mouth. Link grabbed the mirror shield off his back and reflected the flames, and the nightmare dodged them. Murderisk landed and charged at Link, being very persistant and firece. Link realized that maybe the horse was trying to tire him. He had to finish this. As Murderisk reared up and tried to kick Link's face, he dove between the horse's back legs, rolling and coming up behind him. Link slashed the horse's unprotected flanks, giving him long cuts across his hindquarters. Unfortunately Murderisk recovered more quickly than Link had anticipated, kicking at him with the back feet. Link tried to move, but a flaming hoof caught him in the right shoulder, making him fly backwards. Link yelled in pain as he was hurled through the air, slamming into a hill and making sand explode everywhere. Murderisk quickly galloped over to Link, who was still on the ground; his sword too far to be reached quickly. The Hylian was putting pressure on his burnt shoulder, which had been dislocated. Link looked up at the nightmare as the horse bore his teeth in what looked disturbingly like a grin and reared up, ready to stomp his adversary.   
  
Navi screamed, sure it was over, but Epona came leaping from behind a sand dune, slamming her whole weight into Murderisk and sending him tumbling away, then she ran after him to fight him. Link slowly stood up, and Navi breathed a sigh of relief. Gritting his teeth, Link gripped his shoulder and twisted it back into place. It hurt like heck, but at least it was usable once more. Link snatched his sword out of the sand and went to help Epona. The reddish-brown horse was smaller than Murderisk, but was still doing surprisingly well. She dodged all of his kicks and bites, striking at him with her hooves. She hit his front knee and made him stumble, but as the nightmare went down he bit a tuft of her hair and dragged her down with him. He got up quicker than she did, and as she rose he kicked her flank with his back right leg, making her fall backwards.  
  
"Hey, you! Didn't anyone ever tell you not to hit ladies?" Link fired an arrow at the nightmare's eye, but he turned his head and the arrow bounced off his face armor (as he did this Link dimly heard Navi say something about him hitting females all the time). Luckily the arrow distracted Murderisk long enough for Epona to get up and charge. When she got close she skidded and turned around, so her haunches were facing Murderisk. She then kicked him full-force in the side with both hindlegs. Even if Epona was smaller she was very strong, and her kick sent the nightmare hurling away. He flew about ten feet and then landed roughly on the ground, gasping and flapping his dark wings in panic. Link ran over to the horse and stabbed him in the neck before he could rise. With one last, hellish screech, the nightmare died. Like so many other monsters.  
  
"Thanks, girl." Link said, petting Epona. "You'll get lots of extra carrots for that one!" Epona nickered happily. Link rubbed Arlia on both his horse's and his burn wounds. This didn't heal them, but cleaned them and made them a bit less painful. "Now then, you go back to the castle and I'll join you later..." Epona neighed loudly, shaking her head. She got a mouthful of Link's tunic and tried to drag him onto her back. "No, Epona! You're skinny and hurt, I can't ride you! Hey, I said no!" But the red horse ignorred him, pulling him into the saddle and not letting him go. "Epona! You're too weak to have a rider. Go and eat something - ouch!" Epona nipped Link's behind, and he finally decided to quit arguing with her. He grumpily siduated himself in the saddle. "Alright...let's go fight Ganondorf as quick as possible, so you can get something to eat! Hey, what's that?" Link looked over to the right and noticed something shining light on some sand hills. The thing seemed to be in the middle of the dunes and was impossible to see, but was illuminating the surrounding hills with reddish light.   
  
"Link, what's with all the distractions? At this rate, you'll never fight Ganon!" Navi complained.   
  
"Oh, we'll just look at it really fast. What if it's a piece of Ganon's magic and I can destroy it? I wouldn't pass up a chance to sabotage him!" Epona walked between the dunes, approaching the strange light. This far from the fortress there were no monsters or guards, and the whole place was eerily quiet. As they approachedthe glowing, Link faintly heard bubbling. When they got around the last sand dune, Link gasped in surprise. The bubbling and glowing was coming from a huge pit! It looked exactly like the evil lava pit that had been under Ganondorf's floating castle last time he had invaded Hyrule. The lava at the bottom (about two hundred feet down) was reddish-purple, and swirling in a creepy vortex toward the middle. Link dimly saw semitransparent forms moving in the stream rising off the lava.   
  
"Link...I can't breathe..." Navi murmured, collapsing on his shoulder.   
  
"Navi! What's wrong?" Link asked, cradling his partner in his hand. Suddenly a dark, cold feeling spread over him. He heard triumphant, sadistic laughing behind him, accompanied by the crackle of dark lightening.  
  
**Section 9  
  
Ganondorf's Happiness**  
  
Black lightening exploded on the ground behind Epona, making a whole section of the land begin to slide into the lava pitt.  
  
"Whoa!" Link yelled, quickly putting Navi under his hat and jumping off Epona. He climbed onto solid ground and grabbed Epona's harness just before the land under her went tumbling into the purplish lava. Using his gauntlets, Link hauled his horse onto stable land. They both backed away from the lava, freaked out. "Ah man, that was dangerous!"  
  
"Curses! I was so going to enjoy seeing you melt, Link. You bloody killed my horse!" Link turned to see Ganondorf, standing about a score of feet away, looking very angry. Ganon lifted his hand and pointed it at Link's horse. Epona was hit by some invisible force and sent hurling away.  
  
"Epona! You're gonna get it for that, Ganon!" Link challenged. He knew Ganondorf's real name, but he also knew what his soul looked like. He remembered what Ganon looked like, a hulking, ugly, scaley, pig-nosed monster...  
  
"My name is Ganondorf, Link. Or, you may call me Master of Evil!" Ganondorf said, pointing a hand at Link.  
  
"Yeah right! Master of Meanness is more like it!" Link said, then chanted a counterspell Zelda had taught him. The invisible force Ganon had sent at him harmlessly dissolved.  
  
"Why thank you. Master of Meanness is just fine! Well, well...so you've learned some defense against spells, have you? It matters not. Now that I've found you, you won't catch me off-guard again! I was beginning to think about summoning more monsters to look for you..."  
  
"What do you mean? You have more monsters? Where? They must be hiding!"  
  
"Well, they aren't really hidden, per se. Let's just say that the monsters you saw around my fortress are not even a fraction of what I'll attack Hyrule with!"  
  
"Not if I can stop you here, Grannydorf!" Link yelled, just to make him mad.  
  
"Very eager to die, aren't we?!" Ganon growled.  
  
"Eager to kill is more like it," Link said darkly, drawing his sword. Ganondorf drew his double curved swords as well.  
  
"Before we start, let me say welcome...welcome to the end of your life!" Ganon yelled, leaping at Link. Link's eyes locked onto Ganondorf's as he came. Strangely, he felt an overwhelming sense of comfort. It was like this was where he belonged. His niche in existance. It was his purpose to put himself between Ganondorf and Hyrule. But as quickly as the feeling had washed over him, it was gone. Reality came back, and he realized a huge and very deadly man was slashing at his head. Link brought his sword up and blocked the blow, but the force of it was so great it nearly knocked his sword away. He stumbled back, gripping the sword tighter, and thrusted at Ganon. The King of Evil was amazingly fast for his size, and though it seemed as if he had left himself open, he blocked the blow effortlessly. Link cut at him again, and again the huge man parried.  
  
"I don't care how large you brag your forces are, Ganondorf," Link said, blocking another strike aimed for his head. "Hyrule has made many allies since you left. With the diversity and strength of over ten races at our back, you can't beat Hyrule!"  
  
"You think so, Link? What I attacked with earlier was merely a test. You aint seen nothin' yet!" Ganon said, trying to cut Link in half with both swords. Link blocked one side with his sword and the other with his shield.  
  
"Even those dragons of yours weren't so tough," Link said, rolling out of the way of a powerful downward strike.  
  
"Those were small ones!" Ganon growled. "Enough of this foolishness. You don't know my forces and I'm not going to tell you, so it's impossible for you to estimate if you can win or not." Ganon powered up his swords with evil magic and cut at Link with both of them, sending an x-shaped blast of magic at him. Zelda had taught him to use her quick version of Nayru's love and he did, cancelling the attack. The force of it still knocked him back though, and Ganon took the opportunity the kick at him, his large boot covered in purple flames. Link jumped out of the way and the ground he had been sitting on exploded under Ganondorf's foot.  
  
"You should still give up. Don't you have enough power as the King of Gerudos? Why don't you be content - ah!" Link yelled as he blocked another powerful downward strike from Ganonwith his shield. He managed to stay in one piece, but his arm went numb from the shock.  
  
"You don't understand what it feels like to need more power, Link. You're an naive fool with no ambition. Die!" Ganon yelled, thrusting quickly at Link.  
  
"Not today," Link said, dodging and taking a small cut to the side. _Dang, he's fast for his size! Bigger than I remember, too_..."Why don't you just think about it? You have an entire desert and dozens of women all to yourself! What more could you ask for?" Link said, jumpslashing at Ganon. The Gerudo raised both his blades in an x and blocked it.  
  
"What are you talking about, you imbecile? Obviously I'm not content with such things or I wouldn't be trying to kill you! Why do you bother asking?" Ganon inquired irrtably.  
  
"Well, I believe there must be some good in everybody. I think if you thought about it you'd realize you're trying to kill or conquer hundreds of innocent people just to satisfy your own desires." Link slashed rapily at Ganon, trying to overwhelm him with speed. However, Ganon was perfectly fast enough to block all the attacks.  
  
"Hahahah! There isn't good in everyone, kid. I know perfectly well that what I'm doing is wrong, and I enjoy it! It's right to me; as killing my hungry monsters is right to you!" Ganon said, hacking at his hated enemy.  
  
"Well, if I didn't do something they'd kill me first!" Link pointed out, blocking the strikes with his shield. The shock made his arm hurt, but at least it prevented death...  
  
"Yes, well that's only because they're following my orders. For some of them, attacking people is not in their nature."  
  
"Just why _do_ they do follow you, anyways? I bet you torture them if they don't do what you want, so what's in it for them?" Link asked, powering up for the Kai-ten-giri.  
  
"Simple. You know my pit of lava? Did you ever look into it and its fumes very closely? If you did, you would see the writhing souls of the monsters I control there. If they don't obey me, I destroy their souls from existance."   
  
"That's horrible! Kai-ten-giri!" Link released the magic and Ganondorf jumped away from it, striking the magic with his sword to break it. A bit of sharp red magic flew beyond his sword, cutting across his bicep to give him a small scratch which he hardly noticed. "I knew you were sick enough to kill and torture humans, but you've even sunk so low that your monsters need such incentive to follow you!" Link said.  
  
"Oh shut up, you obnoxious brat. I've had enough of this game. Time to get serious!" Ganon said, grinning.  
  
"Bring it on, Ganondorf!" Link yelled, finally using his name correctly. Ganon yelled a few words in some strange language and blackish purple light surrounded him. The magic spiralled upward and outward, radiating over to Link. "Ahhh...sheesh, he's powerful!" Link said to no one in particular, shielding his face with his arm. The black magic felt like a super sunburn all over his body, but didn't hurt enough to waste a Nayru's Love on. Link knew this would be really hurting Navi if she were awake, and wondered if it was hurting her now. Just as a precaution, he took Navi out of his hat, then drew the dagger from his boot. He channled some light magic into it and put it next to Navi. Then he ran over to the unconscious Epona and them by her, the dagger touching Navi so the light magic could protect her. He went back over to Ganondorf, waiting for him to finish. Eventually Ganondorf stopped gathering power, and the black waves dissappeared. It didn't feel like Link was being sunburned anymore, but he could still feel Ganon's power, even from this distance. He was covered in black energy, and began to stomp towards Link, his boots making cracked deppressions in the earth. _Wow, now what? This guy is a powerhouse_! Link began to doubt the wisdom of challenging Ganondorf like this. What if he lost? Link didn't mind so much if he died, but what would happen to Hyrule if he did? He feared what Ganondorf would do to Hyrule very much. It was time for him to get serious as well.  
  
As Ganondorf began to form a ball of dark power in his hand, Link evoked the legendary powers of the Master Sword. He hadn't always had the ability to do this, but through his many battles in North Hyrule and across the ocean, he'd used the powers so much he could now call them at will. His sword began to glow whitish-blue and for some reason Ganondorf looked very pleased.  
  
"That's it, Link...use the Master Sword's legendary powers against me. Just try to stop me!" Ganon hurled the ball at Link. Link sliced at it with his glowing sword, and as it deflected he had to take a few steps backward from the strength of the ball. Ganon had certainly become stronger. Link could usually deflect a blast without having to step backwards, and that was without his sword powered up! But where had Ganondorf gotten such power? Did he simply train himself in the Sacred Realm, all alone? Link doubted he would get too much more powerful that way, because he didn't even have his books or anything to train with. And how had he gotten out of the Sacred Realm in the first place? He was supposed to be sealed forever! It was very suspicious...Ganondorf was through with words, powering up his fist with evil power and punching at Link. Link side-stepped and actually managed to give Ganon a slash on his side as he passed.  
  
"You'll have to do better than that, Hero of Time!" Ganon yelled, turning back towards his enemy. He made a slicing movement at Link and all the sudden a black smoke engulfed the Hylian. It was thick and undoubtedly unhealthy, so Link tried to make his way out of it, coughing heavily. But before he found his way out, Ganon's leg found it's way to him. It came out of the smoke in front of Link before he could move, slamming into his gut. The kick sent Link flying backward out of the smoke, to land on the rough ground twenty feet away. He got up almost immediately, holding his stomach and breathing deeply. Ganondorf came out of his own dissappearing smoke, laughing evily. "So Link, how many ribs did I break?!"  
  
"None," Link replied, feeling his stomach. Indeed, no bones had been broken. Apparently what Cyphas had taught him for punches worked with kicks as well. _My ribs are saved, but DANG that hurt! I have to be more careful...  
_  
"What? Well, you may have gained some slight strength in my absence while fighting the Dragonlord and others..." Ganon said, mildly surprised.  
  
"You know about that?"  
  
"Of course I do, fool! He's the first one I looked for when I returned. Since I didn't find him, you must have defeated him, correct? And I felt the pain of my shade Dark Link when you ran him through, as well. I know you had other battles..." Link eyes widened.  
  
"You know all of it?" Link asked, astounded. How could he know such things if he had been sealed all that time?  
  
"Oh, yes. Who do you think put a vampire in 'North Hyrule'? Who do you think brought a powerful siren from the other side of the ocean here? Who do you think corrupted Feelock? I did, of course! They were to be my servants, until you and those imbecilic sages sealed me..."  
  
"I can't believe you did all that, you monster! I thought there was good in everyone, but you're certainly making me think twice!"  
  
"Glad to hear it," Ganon said, cutting at Link with both swords. He was moving so fast Link had trouble keeping up with him. "The truth is I never had any 'good' in me, and neither do you. I simply have different goals, and you're in my way. There is no 'right' and 'wrong', and if there was, who would have the right to judge it? There is only people who seek power and people who do not." Ganon raised both his swords above his head, ready to bring them down with all his strength. Link knew an attack like that would shatter both his shield and his arm. He had to use his sword to block it...  
  
"Not true, Ganondorf! There's only people who seek justice, and people who ruin it! Ahhh!" Ganondorf brought down his swords, creating a huge power clash between them and the Master Sword. The black magic was so overwhelming that it reached Link past his sword, throwing him to the ground. He got up shakily, the dark magic burning thorugh him and slowly dissappating. He dimly heard bubbling behind him, and wondered how close to the pit he was. _Ouch, how did he do that? The Master Sword has always been more powerful than his magic. It doesn't feel like I was using the sword's full power, but it still should have been enough to shield me..._The Master Sword had been thrown from Link's grip and he knew his sword was behind him somewhere, but since he couldn't just grab it he stalled by continuing the conversation. "There is a right and wrong, and it's impossible for a person to be born evil. That means every person has good in them to some degree whether it's on the surface or buried - even you, Ganondorf!" Too late, Link saw Ganondorf's expression and realized he had gone too far with his words. Stalling didn't work if you enraged the person you were trying to stall.  
  
"Silence, fool!" Ganondorf ordered, his huge hand shooting forward to grip Link's neck. "Ah, that's better," he said, listening to his captive gasp for air. He lifted him off the ground and stared up at him, laughing insanely. "You don't know how long I've waited for this! Revenge is so sweet!" Link struggled violently, kicking at Ganondorf's face, but nothing he did loosened the tyrant's grip. Ganondorf walked forward towards the lava pitt, still smiling like a maniac. Link tried to say something nasty, degrading, and utterly insulting, but could only cough and try to pull Ganondorf's hand off. Ganon reached the edge of the pitt and stopped, holding Link over it. "I may yet see you melt, Hero of Time, heh heh heh. Or, we can have a liitle chat.   
  
"You see, what you said about there being good in all people goes both ways." _What's he talking about?_ Link wondered, beginning to feel very drowzy. Ganon was giving him just enough air to stay conscious. He didn't struggle so hard now, knowing that if Ganondorf let him go he would only die in the lava. "If everyone has good in them, then everyone has evil in them as well...even you. You think you're so righteous, Link? Hah! You're just like me. You have ideals that you would die for, ideals...that you would kill for. Me and you, Link...if anything gets in our way, we kill it. Don't even pretend you haven't killed people, Link. Even innocent ones. You may have pushed the thought to the back of your mind, but it's at the front of mine. You killed two old grannies. Remember them? Yes, Twinrova. Not innocent, you say? Well, you also killed four or five perfectly innocent people." It was all coming back to Link. _He's right, I did push it to the back of my mind. Those innocent dragons...I killed them..._ "Ah, you do remember. Yes, I know you consider dragons to be people too, and you destroyed the ones controlled by the Dragonlord. Furthermore, you suspected they were being controlled and they were innocent, am I right? Then it's murder. I shouldn't even bring up Dark Link because you didn't destroy him completely, but with your violent tendencies you stuck your sword in his stomach like a true villain. Not to mention the hundreds of monters you've killed, including my horse. I didn't kill yours, you know. Why, you've probably killed more living things than me!" Ganondorf smiled, seeing that Link was not only in physical pain but great emotional pain. He pulled on Ganon's hand weakly, still choking and gasping._ I'm a murderer, just like him_..."You know, Link, that murder is an unforgivable sin. You're already doomed. Just like me. So, why don't you enjoy what life has to offer now? I could use your strength, Link. You are probaly the most powerful creature on this planet other than Sahoriel and myself. Lend me your incredible strength, and you can have anything you want. Just as a little extra incentive... if you don't join me, I'll drop you into the lava. What do you say to that?" Ganondorf lossened his grip enough that Link could speak a little. _He's right, I'm doomed...I'm almost like him...but if I join him, things will only get worse, Link thought.  
_  
"Ganondorf, you're...mad." He said with difficulty, inhaling sharply between words. "No amount...of power or...pain...no amount of promises...or ever get me...to join you. I'd die first!! Ugh..." Ganondorf squeezed strongly again, this time cutting off any sort of breathing room, very painfully.  
  
"Somehow I thought you'd say that. What a waste of talent." Ganondorf looked off into the sky behind Link for a few seconds, as if distracted or thinking. Link didn't notice this though, he was too busy being strangled. "Goodbye, Hero of Time!" Finally Ganondorf let go of Link, throwing him backwards into the pit. As soon as Link had enough air in his lungs, he screamed loudly. This was why he hated heights... that terrible feeling you got when you're falling through the air and you know you're going to hit the ground really, really hard. Or in this case, hit the lava and burn to death. Link looked up just before he hit the lava - into the eyes of Ganondorf. _He should be smiling at my defeat_, Link thought. _Why isn't he smiling_? Then his back hit something. It wasn't the lava, it wasn't even hot! Two fuzzy arms grabbed him and pulled him close to a fuzzy body. Then they turned over, so he could see the lava moving beneath him as two feathery wings beat rapidly. He was flying!   
  
"Cutting it a little close aren't you, Link?" A familiar voice asked. Link looked over his shoulder and saw Coflix grinning at him. Coflix's wing tips caught fire from the heat as he pumped them strongly to rise after his steep swoop to grab Link. The added weight of the Hylian didn't help, either. He barely rose above the lava at first, then climbed faster until they were almost out of the pit. The relative wind put the wing fires out and Coflix lifted out of the huge hole of evil lava.  
  
"Thanks a million, Coflix!" Link said, not able to think of anything else to say at the moment. He was still a little dizzy from being nearly throttled.  
  
"Curses! Die Coflix, you feline menace!" Ganondorf shouted, firing a black ball of energy at the escaping cat. Coflix normally could dodge such a thing effortlessly, but with Link's weight to carry he was not as mobile. The side of the ball hit his back, right under the wing. Growling in pain the cat went down, diving straight into the top of a sandhill. Ganon raised a hand to shoot at them again, but Saroe came swooping at him from behind, giving him four large scratches on his wrist. "Ahhh! You too, Saroe? This is no place for a calwot. But ever since I heard of you years ago I knew someday you would interfere with my plans. Prepare to die!"  
  
"In your dreams, Ganondorf! I failed to give the humans aid against you once, I won't let it happen again!" Saroe and Ganondorf went at it, punching, zapping, and slashing at eachother. Link managed to get himself out from under the sand he'd been thrust into, and found Coflix. The cat's top half was buried and his side was bleeding badly. Link pulled him out and found that he was breathing, but in great pain.  
  
"Here, Coflix. Take this Arlia and rub it on that," Link said, handing the cat his plant. "I'm gonna go help Saroe fight Ganondorf." He realized just how bad she needed help as he turned and saw the two struggling with eachother. Ganondorf had his hand locked onto her snout so she couldn't cast verbal spells, and was pummeling her with his other hand. As Link began to run/stumble down the sand hill, Ganondorf formed some sort of blackish, magic-made blade in his hand and cut Saore's chest with it. The cat went flying, black magic burning her until she skidded to a stop on the ground, only inches away from the lava pitt, unconscious. "Saroe! Grrrr...Ganondorf, you'll get it for that!" Link yelled.  
  
"Isn't that what you said in the forest?" Ganon asked, grinning at Link as the Hylian reached the bottom of the hill and charged. Ganondorf drew his one sword (the other sword had been dropped when he grabbed Link). As Link reached him and foolishly tried to cut him without powering up his sword, Ganon easily deflected the blow. Then he round-house kicked Link's head and sent him flying to the side, into another sand dune. Ganondorf rushed over and was almost apon Link before he could get up. Link powered up his sword, making it shine with whiteish-blue light. He tried to use as much power as he had on Dark Link, but for some reason the magic he was using at the moment was his limit. He jumped at Ganondorf and raised his blade over his head. This was it. If that sword connected with Ganondorf, there was no way he would win. It was time to fulfill his destiny.   
  
"Take this, Ganondorf!" Link yelled, bringing down his sword a little too slowly.  
  
"DIE, HERO OF TIME!" Ganondorf screamed, thrusting with his razor-sharp sword at Link's exposed body. The Hylian's mouth dropped open in shock. Unfortunately, the Hero of Time had made a miscalculation. He didn't think it was possible for Ganondorf, a giant of a man, to be that fast. The wickedly sharp Gerudo blade slid right into Link's stomach, impaling him. Link's eyes widened at the unexpected agony and time seemed to slow for him as his fingers unwillingly released his sword, which made a dull clang as it hit the dust. The Hylian looked down in disbelief at the blade in his gut. It hadn't gone in all the way, and he could see his pale face in the mirror-like surface of the sword until it was distorted by bright drops of red, dripping from his mouth. Chuckling in evil happiness, Ganondorf grabbed Link's chin roughly and shoved the sword in up to the hilt. Link gasped in pain and his blood poured onto the Evil King's hand. It ran down the length of the blade, dripping onto the ground. The Gerudo forcefully lifted Link's face, making the Hylian look at him.  
  
"Where is it, Link? Where is this 'good' in me now?" He sneered, glaring into Link's deep, oceanlike, pain-filled blue eyes. "I'll tell you where it is....it's only in your imagination, boy!" With one strong jerk, Ganondorf yanked the blade out of Link, blood flying everywhere. Link screamed in searing pain and collapsed, hands covering the hole in the left side of his stomach. He dimly heard Ganondorf's phsychotic laughter as he coughed, the coppery taste of blood filling his mouth. He could now feel nothing but pain, hear nothing but the beat of his heart pounding wildly.  
  
"This is what happiness feels like!" Ganondorf declared loudly, laughing again. His laugh was evil, deep, triumphant. Then he looked to the skies and saw to his dismay that a score of calwots were flying his towards him. He could feel that they were powerful ones (Dhimun, Leal, Cimtu and seventeen other guards), and knew he couldn't take them all on his own without getting injured. He had accomplished his goal, it was time to retreat back to his castle and summon his army. He also wanted to send a little 'present' to Hyrule Castle before his actual assault. The Gerudo King flew back to his fortress as the cats came apon the bloody scene by the lava pitt. Link hardly noticed them. His world was turning red and black, and he was beginning to feel numb. He knew he wouldn't last long....

-sorry about the cliffhangar, people! I couldn't resist. Thanks for reading, like usual I'll update when I have two or three reviews, which normally only takes a few days. Sorry to make ya think Epona was dead for so 't fit in her retunr any earlier. See ya next time!

-Talonclawfange


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